resilience of meta-ecosystems: how openness and diversity ......mechanistic understanding if and how...

MScProject

Resilienceofmeta-ecosystems:howopennessanddiversitybufferforecosystemfunctioningunderperturbation.

WearelookingforanenthusiasticMScstudentwhowillbeworkingoncommunitydynamicsand ecosystem functioning. The project involves laboratory work using microcosmexperimentsandispartofalargerresearchprogram(basedatEawag,Dübendorf).

Ecosystemsareconnectedbyanexchangeofbothorganismsandresourceflows(i.e.degreeof openness). Metacommunity studies have showed that intermediate dispersal rates oforganismsfromaregionalspeciespoolcanbufferagainstchangesinecosystemfunctionanddiversityafterenvironmentalchange(spatialinsurancehypothesis).However,thesestudiesignorethefactthatecosystemsdiffernotonlyintheiropennesstospeciesdispersal,butalsoin resource flows. The recently developed meta-ecosystem theory integrates this, andpostulatesthatresourceflowsbetweenecosystemsmatterforecosystemfunctioninganditsresponsetoanthropogenicpressure.

InthisMScproject,youwoulddevelopameta-ecosystemmicrocosmexperimenttoobtainamechanistic understanding if and how organism dispersal versus resource flow affectecosystemdiversity and functioningunderenvironmental stress. This is important, as thedegreeofopennessofecosystemsiscurrentlychanging:systemsbecomeeithermoreclosedthroughhabitat fragmentationormore open throughhuman-induced transportation.Weexpect that organism dispersal as resource flow can have similar effects to ecosystemfunctioning,butmaystronglydependontheseverityof theenvironmentalstressandthediversitypresentinthemeta-ecosystem.

Requirements: Interest in ecology and ecosystem functioning, andwillingness to performlaboratory microcosm experiments with protist species using well-equipped facilities toperformvideoanalysis.TheMScprojectcanstartanytime.

Contact/Supervision:

Prof.Dr.FlorianAltermatt(Florian.Altermatt@eawag.ch),IEU,UniversityofZurichand

Dr.LynnGovaert(Lynn.Govaert@eawag.ch),Eawag,Dep.AquaticEcology,Dübendorf.

Moreinfo:www.altermattlab.ch

Wearelookingforwardtomeetingyou!

Paramecium Euglena

Cephalodella Tetrahymena