Dear colleagues,
We are looking for a highly motivated PhD-student to join the long-term research on the interactions between plants, insects & microbes, with a focus on the food web surrounding oak trees.
For more information see the project description (below) and the following link:
and don't hesitate to contact me directly by email, (the new closing date is November 18)
My best,
Ayco Tack
Some more info: Questions that the project aims to answer are: Where do the microorganisms associated with plants come from? Are they inherited from the mother plant through the seeds, or are they acquired from the environment? How will plant-associated microorganisms affect the assembly of the insect community? What are the drivers that structure plant-associated multitrophic food webs, and do the structuring forces differ between microorganisms and macroorganisms?
To answer these questions, we have to link studies on the micro- and macrobiome across spatial and temporal scales. One useful approach is to focus on a diverse community associated with a keystone species. In this project we will use the pedunculate oak Quercus robur.
The PhD-student will be located at DEEP with Ayco Tack as main supervisor, but with complementary support by a group of co-supervisors with other competences.
