We seek two Postdoctoral Fellows to participate in a five- year NSF funded collaboration between research groups at Princeton University and Cornell University. This project addresses the question: "How do extraordinarily constant patterns emerge at the scale of ecosystems, from the tremendous (and evolving) biotic and abiotic complexity that defines these ecosystems?"

Our work will focus on macroscopic patterns and processes in the cycling of nutrients and water, and how these emerge from (and feed back upon) local interactions between organisms and their environments. Some of these emergent patterns are unique to particular environments, but others - such as ratios of nutrients - show remarkable regularity within wide classes of ecosystems. We will address both the similarities and differences, with an emphasis on differences between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Our focus will be on the interplay between biotic evolution and the cycling of nutrients, trace elements, and water, and how system resiliency is maintained in changing environments.

1. Position in Ecosystem Nutrient Cycles (Lars Hedin, Cornell): We expect the applicant to have a good understanding of ecosystem nutrient dynamics, and a strong conceptual interest in linking ecosystem-scale patterns to properties of communities, organisms, and local environments. The Fellow will assist in the assembly and interpretation of databases on broad ecosystem patterns, the collection of new information from forests in southern Chile and elsewhere, and will interact with collaborators at Princeton on linking models to the observed macroscopic patterns.

   Applicants should send a statement of qualifications, curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference to:

   Lars O. Hedin
   Dept. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
   Cornell University
   Ithaca, NY 14853
   

   or to loh1@cornell.edu. Cornell University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Applications from women and minorities are encouraged.

2. Position in Ecological Systems Modeling (Simon Levin and Steven Pacala, Princeton): The applicant should have good understanding of ecosystem dynamics in either terrestrial or aquatic systems, and facility with mathematical modeling and computer simulation. The Fellow will assist in the development of modeling approaches, and interact with empirical colleagues at Princeton and Cornell.

   Applicants should send a statement of qualifications, curriculum vitae, and three letters of reference to:

   Simon Levin
   Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
   Princeton University
   Princeton NJ 08544-1003
   

   Princeton University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Applications from women and minorities are encouraged.