{"id":194,"date":"2016-10-24T16:50:47","date_gmt":"2016-10-24T16:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/?p=194"},"modified":"2016-10-24T16:50:47","modified_gmt":"2016-10-24T16:50:47","slug":"masters-project-opening-biodiversity-of-moss-biocrusts-and-resilience-to-climate-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/2016\/10\/24\/masters-project-opening-biodiversity-of-moss-biocrusts-and-resilience-to-climate-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Master’s Project Opening: Biodiversity of moss biocrusts, and resilience to climate climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, seeks a motivated Master of Science (M.S.F.) student to conduct field and greenhouse experiments in Flagstaff, Arizona and field sites in southeast Utah starting in Fall 2017. The student will be co-advised by Matthew Bowker and Anita Antoninka on a new NSF-funded Dimensions of Biodiversity project<\/a> in collaboration with 5 institutions (PI- Llo Stark, UNLV). The student will explore the relationship between biodiversity in moss and biocrust communities and their resistance to climate change stressors. The project will: 1. Conduct a greenhouse experiment to first develop \u201ccustom\u201d biocrusts with varying levels of community diversity, and genetic diversity within a focal moss taxon (Syntrichia<\/i>), then monitor the response of the communities to stress. 2. Track trade-offs in stress tolerance and reproduction in Syntrichia<\/i> biocrusts experimentally transplanted on an elevation gradient. 3. Document the outcomes of long-term simulated climate change as expressed by stress tolerance and reproduction in Syntrichia<\/i>. At least 2 years of funding are available to the student (Annual stipend of $17,950, tuition remission, and student health coverage) in addition to project costs.<\/p>\n

Research Environment:<\/b> The School of Forestry is one of the top Forestry Schools in the nation, and a productive research environment, with faculty members specializing in a variety of ecological topics such as landscape ecology, ecological restoration, plant ecophysiology, entomology, hydrology, and soil ecology among other topics.<\/p>\n

Preferred Qualifications:<\/b> Bachelor of Science in Forestry, Biology, Environmental Science or related field, supplemented with research experience (undergraduate thesis, capstone or internship, or employment-related experience). Candidates with greenhouse or field research experience will be strongly favored. Candidates with previous experience in soil ecology and\/or bryophyte\/biocrust ecology will also be favored. The candidate must satisfy all requirements set by the School of Forestry, and Northern Arizona University.<\/p>\n

Admissions requirements (Deadline March 15, 2017):<\/b><\/p>\n

GPA of 3.0 or greater on a 4.0 scale in all college and university work
\nGRE scores in the top 40th percentile
\nIf English is not your native language:
\na score of at least 80 on the internet-based TOEFL or
\n550 on the paper-based TOEFL or
\n213 on the computer-based TOEFL
\nThree letters of recommendation<\/p>\n

How to apply:<\/b>\u00a0 First contact us directly (matthew.bowker@nau.edu) to state your research interests, and motivations for attending graduate school, with \u201cmoss diversity graduate student inquiry\u201d in the header. Please provide a resume or C.V., and provide your GRE scores (if taken) and GPA. If we agree that you are a good match for the position, we will encourage you to apply to the program.<\/p>\n

\"1580\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 The School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, seeks a motivated Master of Science (M.S.F.) student to conduct field and greenhouse experiments in Flagstaff, Arizona and field sites in southeast Utah starting in Fall 2017. The student will be co-advised by Matthew Bowker and Anita Antoninka on a new NSF-funded Dimensions of Biodiversity project in collaboration with 5 institutions (PI-…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1341,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/southwest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}