Postdoc in Food-Web Responses to Artificial Flood Restoration in Alpine Rivers

The goals of the postdoc project are to understand: 1) how artificial floods alter the availability and use of aquatic and terrestrial resources within stream and riparian food webs and 2) whether stream food webs follow consistent recovery trajectories when floods are restored after a prolonged interruption. The project will take advantage of long-term data on flood restoration collected in the River Spöl at the Swiss National Park from 1999-present, and also involve field sampling before and after the restart of artificial flooding in this river. Field sampling is planned as are bulk stable isotope analyses of new and already-collected samples for the project. These data will be linked to flood-induced changes in habitat structure and hydromorphology. We also encourage the postdoc to bring their own creative research questions related to the project themes and to make use of their own additional analytical skillsets where feasible within the project timeframe and budget. The postdoc will contribute to the science-practice interface of artificial flood management in Switzerland. Results from the River Spöl will be interpreted in the broader context of environmental flows and adaptive restoration in hydropower-regulated rivers with the opportunity to engage with Swiss practitioners involved with hydropower and aquatic resource management through meetings, presentations, and outreach publications.

Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, is an internationally networked aquatic research institute within the ETH Domain (Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology). Eawag conducts research, education and expert consulting to achieve the dual goals of meeting direct human needs for water and maintaining the function and integrity of aquatic ecosystems. The position will be within the Department of Fish Ecology and Evolution (FishEc), located on the shores of Lake Lucerne in Kastanienbaum, Switzerland, and will also work closely with researchers from the department of Aquatic Ecology in Dübendorf as well as with researchers based at ETH Zürich in the department of Environmental Systems Science (USYS) and from Zürich University of Applied Sciences in the Institute of Natural Resource Sciences (IUNR) (ZHAW).

• The successful candidate can work independently as well as part of a small team, being self-motivated when it comes to developing new skills or exploring new topics, and having a resilient, growth-based mindset.

• Prior wet lab experience including stable isotope and other biogeochemical analyses and comfort with performing lab work independently are expected.

• Interest in linking mechanistic food-web ecology with hydro morphology, habitat dynamics, artificial floods, and adaptive river management is also particularly welcome.

• You also need excellent communication and data analysis skills.

• Interest in mentoring junior researchers, including master’s students, is also a plus.

• The lab and departmental working languages are English, but interest in learning and/or knowledge of a Swiss national language would be helpful for fieldwork and outreach.