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Vacancies
1)
Post doctoral ecologist
General information
The "Groupe Ecole Supérieure d’Agriculture (ESA)" is recruiting
a post doctoral ecologist to join its « LEVA - Laboratoire
d’écophysiologie végétale & agroécologie » research laboratory.
In collaboration with the Institut National d’Horticulture and
its « Unité Propre Paysage », the post-doc will participate in a
research project entitled : « Biodiversity and its interactions
with viticulture in a wine-growing area in the west of France :
case study of a local initiative in a controlled origin
appellation (AOC Saumur-Champigny) ». The French Ministry for
the Environment (MEDAD) is financing this project as part of a
national programme, « DIVA 2 », on political action, agriculture
and biodiversity.
The general objective is to study the contribution of
viticulture to the maintenance of biodiversity in the
Saumur-Champigny wine-growing area and in particular to
determine the effects of farming practices and landscape
management by viticulturists on vineyard biodiversity.
A multi-scale approach is being used to collect data relating
to:
- areas used for production or semi-natural areas managed by
viticulturists
- the value of these areas for plants and birds
- the perception and management of these areas by viticulturists
- landscape structure and the evolution of land cover over time
- viticulture practices and general farm organisation
These observations will enable us to assess how viticulturists
can contribute to maintaining biodiversity in an area consisting
of vineyards interspersed by crops, woodland and urban outskirts
and to identify strategies for biodiversity management at the
wine appellation or small regional scale.
Job description
Within this pluridisciplinary project, the post-doc will carry
out ecological work (and in particular ornithological fieldwork)
in collaboration with the ecologist lecturer-researchers (an
ornithologist and a botanist). Following on from fieldwork
carried out in spring/summer 2008 (bird transects, vegetation
surveys), he/she will be responsible for designing future
sampling to study the relationships between farming practices,
landscape structure and biodiversity at a variety of spatial
scales within the study area. Over two seasons (2009/2010) he/she
will carry out fieldwork (including bird territory maps) and
will assist with supervising student assistants involved in the
ecological aspects of the project. The post-doc will take an
active part in the analysis, presentation and publication of the
results.
Location
The job is based in Angers, in the Loire Valley, at the « Groupe
Ecole Supérieure d’Agriculture (ESA) » higher college of
agriculture. Regular travel to and from the study area near
Saumur will be necessary.
The selected candidate will possess:
A doctorate in ecology;
Good ornithological knowledge and plant identification skills
and a taste for fieldwork;
Some previous experience of landscape and community ecology;
A clean driver’s licence.
A training in the use of GIS tools (ESRI) would be appreciated.
For non-native speakers of French, a reasonable command of the
French language is required.
Terms of employment
The job is for a fixed period of two years (October 2008 -
September 2010). The annual gross salary is € 25000.
Applications
Applicants should send a CV (including a list of publications),
an accompanying letter and the names of two referees to
Josephine Pithon (j.pithon@groupe-esa.com) before 15 June 2008.
Interviews will take place in June or early July 2008.
To find out more…
You can consult the Groupe ESA and INH websites (www.groupe-esa.com
/ www.inh.fr) or the Saumur-Champigny producers’ site (section
on "biodiversité") www.producteurs-de-saumur-champigny.fr/
For more details please feel free to contact the scientific
manager of the project Guillaume Pain g.pain@groupe-esa.com,
Joséphine Pithon (ornithologist) j.pithon@groupe-esa.com or
Hervé Daniel (botanist) herve.daniel@inh.fr
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