Two Graduate Research Assistantships in Physiological/Ecosystem Ecology

Department of Biology, University of New Mexico
Department of Earth System Science, University of California Irvine
Funding is available to support two Ph.D. students interested in studying the physiological and climatic controls over the terrestrial carbon cycle of two ecosystems, a Piñon-Juniper woodland and a high-elevation grassland, both located in Northern New Mexico. One student, at the University of New Mexico, will focus on measuring the controls on isotopic mass balance from the leaf to ecosystem scale and the second student, at the University of California-Irvine, will focus on modeling these fluxes and integrating field data. Field work will utilize a revolutionary new instrument, Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy, for foliar carbon and oxygen isotope discrimination and the carbon and oxygen isotope ratios of ecosystem and tissue respired carbon dioxide. Modeling efforts (UCI) will incorporate field results into ecosystem- to global-scale estimates of the terrestrial carbon cycle. Students at both institutions will work together and with scientists in the Tunable Diode Laser Facility/Carbon Cycle Program at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Students with backgrounds in biology, chemistry, physics, or computer science and an interest in field work and modeling within the fields of physiological ecology, ecosystem ecology and environmental science are encouraged to apply. For more information, contact one or more of the individuals below:
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Nate McDowell (mcdowell@lanl.gov)
University of New Mexico (http://biology.unm.edu)
Will Pockman (pockman@unm.edu)
Dave Hanson (dthanson@unm.edu)
University of California – Irvine (http://www.ess.uci.edu/)
Jim Randerson (jranders@uci.edu)