We are looking for a candidate for a PhD fellowship (4 yrs). The position would be based at Dr. Pau Carazo’s research group at the Cavanilles Institute for Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Valencia (Spain), but the student would also have the opportunity to conduct several long (4 months or more) stays at Uppsala University (Sweden), in Dr. David Berger’s group.
The project aims to understand how habitat heterogeneity modulates sexual selection and sexual conflict, ultimately promoting or limiting adaptation to novel environments. In the wild, organisms have evolved to reproduce under dynamic ecological conditions, but we largely ignore how such habitat complexity affects different mechanisms and episodes of sexual selection, arising trade-offs, and the nature of standing genetic variation for fitness. This information is crucial to disentangle the effects of sexual selection on organism phenotypes, populations viability, and the potential for adaptation. The work will be conducted using the insect models Drosophila melanogaster and Callosobruchus maculatus combining behavioural and fitness assays, experimental evolution, and genomic analyses.
We are looking for candidates with a keen interest (and ideally some background) in evolutionary biology and animal behaviour.
Candidates should send a CV and an expression of interest to Pau Carazo (University of Valencia; pau.carazo@uv.es) or David Berger (david.berger@ebc.uu.se).
The deadline for applications is the 30th of September.
Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology
University of Valencia
Tel: +34 963544051
http://paucarazo.com