"PhD: “Upscaling emergent trait-based mimics for peatland ecosystem restoration”"

Are you eager to help advance and upscale the restoration of peatland ecosystems? As one of the two 4-year PhD positions in the NWO funded project ‘Bioprime: applying biomimicry to produce restoration designs for multiple ecosystems’ at Utrecht University and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, you will create ecosystem-specific, mass-produceable structures that are ready for large-scale ecosystem restoration.

The PhD candidate at Utrecht University will focus on peatland ecosystems (peat moss-dominated bogs and reed-dominated fens), while the PhD candidate at NIOZ Texel will focus on coastal ecosystems. Wetland ecosystems shaped by habitat-forming species, such as peatlands, salt marsh, seagrasses and reef-forming bivalves (i.e. ‘biogenic’) provide important ecosystem services but are rapidly declining worldwide. Supported by for example the UN’s call to action in the ‘Decade on Restoration’ and the ‘EU Nature Restoration Law’, governments, industry and nature organizations increasingly use restoration as a vital tool to halt and reverse ecosystem losses. However, restoration of biogenic ecosystems is failure-prone, because their stability depends on self-facilitation generated by ‘emergent traits’, such as water holding mosses, dense sediment-stabilizing root mats or strong and persistent reef structures. Such traits emerge when habitat formers aggregate, causing self-facilitation to only work beyond certain minimum patch sizes and densities. This creates a ‘chicken-and-egg problem’ when ecosystem restoration is attempted on degraded ecosystems.

In this project, the team will apply a new ‘ecology-meets-engineering’ design approach to create ecosystem-specific, mass-produceable structures ready for large-scale application. Specifically, the team will test a new framework that combines methods from ecology, industrial design, and engineering to optimize and upscale biodegradable structures that temporarily mimic key emergent traits using industrial-scale additive manufacturing (i.e., 3D-printing) techniques. The resulting mimics should ‘kick-start’ establishment of the target habitat-modifying species, after which the structures are allowed to biodegrade. Within the team, the role of both PhD candidates will be to (1) create and produce mimics for peatlands, salt marsh, seagrasses and reef-forming bivalves ecosystems, (2) test the organism-specific suitability of various prototypes with field tests, and (3) unravel the optimal mimic size for contrasting ecological settings in field experiments. Both PhD candidates will closely work together, and with a post-doc that will analyse patch-size dynamics as well as a post doc that leads upscaling.

You must have completed your MSc degree in ecology, biology, geomorphology, environmental, marine science or civil technical or related discipline. Preferably, you will also have: Experience with ecological (field) experiments and affinity with design; Strong analytical and computational skills for the experimental results using (spatial) statistical methods; A keen interest in performing multi-disciplinary work as part of larger research team; A passion and capacity to work with scientists, engineers, policymakers, and NGOs; Good collaborative skills, excellent written and oral communication in English; Ability to drive a car (driving license B) or open to obtain a license.

We offer: a position (0.8-1.0 FTE) for one year, with an extension to a total of four years upon a successful assessment in the first year, and with the specific intent that it results in a doctorate within this period; a working week of 32 - 40 hours and a gross monthly salary between € 3.059 and €3.881 in the case of full-time employment (salary scale P under the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO NU)); 8% holiday pay and 8.3% year-end bonus; a pension scheme, partially paid parental leave and flexible terms of employment based on the CAO NU.

You will work at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development and the section Environmental Sciences at Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences.