24.03.2021

Within the DFG-funded Research Training Group “BioMove” (Integrating Biodiversity Research with Movement Ecology in Dynamic Agricultural Landscapes), the third cohort of PhD projects is currently being advertised. “BioMove” is a joint project of the University of Potsdam, the Freie Universität Berlin, the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research.
The third cohort of PhD-Projects starts in October 2021 and runs until September 2024. The new projects will focus on the interactions between different groups of animals, plants and microorganisms and their ability for active and passive movement under the influence of changing landscape structures and management. They are building on the successful research of the 20 PhD students of the first cohort (2015-2018) and second cohort (2018-2021).
One of the PhD-positions that are funded by “BioMove”, is integrated into the research activities of the ZALF working group “Fungal Interactions” of Research Area 1 “Landscape Functioning”, the topic of project P 10 is: "Community composition, dispersal ability and niche competition of phytopathogenic fungi influenced by small water bodies in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes". This PhD-project will focus on the ability of different fungal species to colonize non-host plants, to survive and from there to infect arable crops. Species-specific differences in various phytopathogenic fungal species will be compared in terms of their capability to spread or colonize different niches on plant surfaces. The preliminary work in the “AgroScapeLab Quillow” by Gabriele Schiro and Annika Hoffmann as part of their PhDs in BioMove showed the different features of Fusarium- and Alternaria-spores to spread within a field and the influence of microclimatic conditions and landscape structures on the distribution patterns of these fungi within a field or region.
We expect your applications by 14.05.2021.
PhD-Positions Biomove
Further information: