How does restoration alter plant traits, ecosystem multifunctionality and service provisioning in wetlands?

Wetland restoration projects provide opportunities to regain the ecosystem services that have been lost or degraded through land conversions. Differences in the rate of ecosystem service recovery following restoration can affect the balance of trade-offs among land uses, but our understanding of ecosystem service recovery following restoration is limited.
Based in the Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology, at Victoria University of Wellington, this PhD will engage with the Wetlands for People and Place project (https://www.victoria.ac.nz/sbs/research-centres-institutes/centre-biodiversity-restoration-ecology/research/ecological-restoration/wetlands-for-people-and-place) , a multidisciplinary effort of the Centre to understand the human and biophysical drivers of successful wetland restorations. The PhD student will work at the plot-scale over a chronosequence of wetland restoration sites to evaluate plant and soil traits and ecosystems service provisioning.

Applicants must have excellent academic records to be competitive for a Victoria University of Wellington PhD scholarship (minimum GPA 8 on a 9 point scale), and meet all other entrance requirements to the PhD programme at VUW (https://www.victoria.ac.nz/study/apply-enrol/admissions). Applications for this position are open to individuals of any nationality or gender. It is the successful applicant’s responsibility to secure a student visa to New Zealand. Good health and physical fitness are requirements of the field work component of the project. A strong background in field based ecology is essential while some experience with Geographic Information Systems is considered an asset for this project.

To apply: Email a brief cover letter (1 page max) outlining your PhD research interests, a short CV and copies of your academic transcripts to stephanie.tomsha (at) vuw.ac.nz