Join our Landscape Fire and Conservation Science Research Group!

PhD opportunity in fire and landscape ecology: Biodiversity in natural and managed early seral forests of southwestern Oregon

A PhD position is available to join the Landscape Fire and Conservation Science Research Group in the Department of Forest Ecosystems at Oregon State University. The PhD student will be supervised by Dr. Meg Krawchuk, and collaborate with the study team including Dr. Jim Rivers, Dr. Matt Betts, Dr. Mark Swanson, Dr. A.J. Kroll, and Dr. Jake Verschuyl.  The successful candidate will participate in a collaborative project to evaluate how biodiversity varies among early seral environments regenerating after stand replacing forest fire, fire and timber salvage/management, and intensive forest management. Field work for the position will take place in southwestern Oregon’s Klamath and Cascades ecoregions. Biodiversity attributes of interest include plant, bee, and bird communities. A pilot field season is planned for Summer 2018, and ideally the successful candidate would be available to participate. The graduate program will begin in Fall 2018.

Motivated students with interests in fire ecology, landscape ecology, conservation science, and/or forest management are encouraged to apply. Preference will be given to candidates with expertise/experience in at least one of the key taxonomic groups of interest for the project: capture and identification of bees/entomology, strong skills with avian point counts, and/or field botany. The position requires a candidate with extensive field experience and leadership skills in remote settings preferably related to post-fire landscapes. As a complement to strong field skills, the position requires an interest and aptitude for contemporary statistical analysis, and a creative mind keen to do rigorous science that translates to forest management. Though the general framing of the study is established, students will have the opportunity to influence the direction of their contribution in this research.

Additional qualifications: The student must have a valid driver’s license and clean driving record, strong work ethic, be able to carry heavy gear on steep slopes, be comfortable working in a collaborative setting, and have a track record of working in a safe, efficient, and cooperative manner.

The PhD position includes three years of funding with additional years of support to complete the degree program expected from existing collaborators and funding. Funding for this project covers the field program and graduate program of the PhD student. The PhD student will be responsible for hiring, and leading a small field crew for three summers of data collection over the duration of the program.

The successful candidate will join the Landscape Fire and Conservation Science Research Group, http://people.forestry.oregonstate.edu/meg-krawchuk/ and supervised by Dr. Meg Krawchuk in the Department of Forest Ecosystems, College of Forestry at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon. Information about the graduate program can be found at: http://fes.forestry.oregonstate.edu/fes-graduate-program.

If you are interested in the project, please contact Dr. Meg Krawchuk: meg.krawchuk@oregonstate.edu, with: 1) letter of application with brief summary of your educational background, relevant research and work experience including pointer to expertise/experience with any of the key taxonomic groups mentioned above, career goals, why you believe you’re a good match for this project, 2) CV, 3) your academic record including transcripts and GRE scores, and 4) contact information for three references. 

For full consideration, please submit your application by March 31^st, 2018. We aim to identify a successful candidate in early April 2018. Review of applicants will continue until the position is filled.

Project description: Early seral forests contribute important heterogeneity to landscapes in the Pacific Northwest. Concern that federal forest management and intensification of management on private lands have reduced the availability of complex early seral ecosystems is contributing to calls for ecological forestry approaches to help balance the aims of wood production and biodiversity conservation. The driver of early seral forest initiation is removal or alteration of the forest canopy, and in southwest Oregon stand replacing wildfire and intensive forest management are principal factors generating these conditions. Our objective in this study is to conduct a large-scale retrospective study of biodiversity (plant, pollinator and bird communities) in early seral Douglas-fir/white fir/western hemlock forest types of southwestern Oregon. We will compare biodiversity responses to natural regeneration after stand replacing fire, regeneration after wildfire and timber salvage/management, and managed regeneration of plantations; the study will sample across early, mid, and late periods of early stand development to characterize temporal variability and trajectories of response across environmental and design gradients.

Oregon State University commits to inclusive excellence by advancing equity and diversity in all that we do. We are an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer, and particularly encourage applications from members of historically underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, women, individuals with disabilities, veterans, LGBTQ community members, and others who demonstrate the ability to help us achieve our vision of a diverse and inclusive community.