PhD: Modelling Species Invasions in Fragmented Landscapes, CEH & Oxford, UK

Forums: 

Source: http://www.ceh.ac.uk/studentships/index.html

Supervisors: Dr Eamonn Gaffney1, Dr Steven White1,2& Prof James Bullock2

1) University of Oxford
2) Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Wallingford

Application Deadline: Thursday 17th May 2012

Project Start Date: No later than 1st October 2012

Applications should be made online at www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate_courses and should include a CV, covering letter, a list of three referees and a transcript of your undergraduate degree. If you are unable to apply online, you can request a paper form from https://uni-of-oxford.custhelp.com/app/ask/. Applications must arrive by the end of the day on Thursday 17th of May 2012, with interviews scheduled for Monday 28th of May; please ensure you quote the correct reference BK/12/05 in your covering letter. Referees should send references using the online system, but if they have any problems, they may e-mail them directly to the Graduate Studies Assistant (graduate.studies@maths.ox.ac.uk) by the closing date. Further details about the application process may be obtained from the Graduate Studies Assistant (graduate.studies@maths.ox.ac.uk) and further details concerning the project can be found at https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/17863.

Project Description

Applications are invited for a multidisciplinary postgraduate doctoral studentship to work on modelling species invasions in fragmented landscapes under the supervision of Dr Eamonn Gaffney (Centre for Mathematical Biology (CMB), University of Oxford), Dr Steven White (NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH); CMB) and Prof James Bullock (CEH). The studentship will start no later than 1st October 2012 and will be based in the CMB, within The University of Oxford’s Mathematical Institute and will also be attached to Brasenose College. In this project, the student will develop and analyse mathematical models to investigate the role that habitat fragmentation will have on plant species invasions. Specific topics that might be addressed include: (1) the development of theory on wavespeeds for stage-structured integro-difference equations in periodic landscapes; (2) the effect of multi-habitat landscapes on species invasions; (3) the effect of stochastic landscapes on species invasions; (4) transient dynamics theory; (5) investigating the role of density dependence in species invasions; and (6) multiple interacting species invasions. Throughout, the student will use a combination of analytical