USFS Postdoctoral Fellowship in Invasive Plant and Disturbance Ecology
Reference Code: USDA-USFS-2022-0134
Research opportunities for the fellow will be organized around two primary activities: 1) designing and implementing a complex field-based invasion ecology research project, and 2) collaborating with a team to help develop a major state of the science book chapter focused on inter-relationships between fire and invasive plants in the United States, with a focus on western forests. A key role (#1) will be the opportunity to co-lead a new western to potentially national field experiment focused on evaluating the role of plant propagule pressure (via weed pretreatments) and disturbance intensity in understanding plant invasion in forests. Complex interactions between disturbance (fire, thinning or logging), other abiotic factors, biotic processes, propagule pressure, and invasion are rarely studied together. This is a unique opportunity to design and implement a series of novel and complex manipulative experiments and author new contributions to the literature. The candidate will also have the opportunity to consult extensively with leading experts in the field and local land managers to help design the study. Other opportunities may include collaborating on ongoing projects within the FERA team, such as analyzing wildfire model simulation output, helping with fire science outreach efforts as part of the Joint Fire Science Exchange Network, and grant writing. The fellow will also have an opportunity to develop or participate in new and emerging avenues of research related to fire, invasive plants, and natural resource management.
This opportunity is through the ORISE program, but the fellow will be hosted and housed by the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. Finding provided by the Western Wildland Environmental Threat Assessment Center.
