The Department of Coastal Systems (COS) of NIOZ, in collaboration with Wageningen Marine Research (WMR), is looking for a Post-doctoral Researcher to advance a mechanistic understanding of the impact of pressures on the health and spatial distribution of flora and fauna in the Wadden Sea ecosystem.
THE INSTITUTE
NWO-NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research is the national oceanographic research institute. The mission of NIOZ is to perform academically excellent multidisciplinary fundamental and frontier-applied marine research addressing important scientific and societal questions pertinent to the functioning of oceans and seas. Second, NIOZ serves as national marine research facilitator (NMF) for The Netherlands scientific community. In this role, NIOZ stimulates and supports national and international marine research, marine education programs and marine policy development.
THE DEPARTMENT
The post-doc will be employed at NIOZ COS. The Department of COS integrates state-of-the art laboratory, field and numerical modelling studies in frontier explorations of the drivers of the dynamics of marine habitats and food webs. COS examines how physical, chemical and biological processes interact to determine the distribution, composition and productivity of marine species - from primary producers to top predators - and marine habitats - from the coast to inter/sub-tidal and pelagic environments. Research is applied at both the regional and global scales to provide knowledge needed for climate adaptation and mitigation and for biodiversity protection and restoration.
The post-doc will collaborate with researchers at Wageningen Marine Research (WMR), part of Wageningen University and Research. WMR is a scientific institute for strategic and applied marine ecological research. With knowledge, independent scientific research and advice, the aim of Wageningen Marine Research is to substantially contribute to more sustainable and more careful management, use and protection of natural riches in marine, coastal and freshwater areas.
Work at NIOZ COS and WUR WMR provides science-based advice on the consequences of anthropogenic activities on biodiversity and its capacity to supply ecosystem services to guide conservation management
THE PROJECT
Marine SABRES (Marine Systems Approaches for Biodiversity Resilience and Ecosystem Sustainability - https://www.marinesabres.eu/) is an EU research project that is designed to conserve and protect biodiversity by integrating healthy, sustainably-used ecosystems and a resilient blue economy. To mitigate the pressures impacting marine social-ecological systems, effective management of marine and coastal environments is essential — not only to achieve international biodiversity goals (such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy), but also in combating the threats of climate change (e.g. ocean warming, sea level rise, acidification, marine heatwaves, increased storminess) and environmental degradation (e.g. pollution and eutrophication). Actions such as maintaining healthy fish stocks and choosing appropriate spaces for marine renewable energy can reduce human impact on the ocean while ensuring that human needs are met sustainably. To do this, MarineSABRES brings together an interdisciplinary team of leading experts in the environmental, social, and physical sciences, stakeholder engagement, and science communication from 21 partner organisations from eleven European countries. The focus of NIOZ and WMR is on developing tools for management actions that help rebuild the health and biodiversity of the Wadden Sea by understanding the cumulative risk from multiple pressures and developing advice to guide decision-makers and (regional) managers.
THE VACANCY
The main goal of this Post-doctoral Researcher is to better understand pressure-state relationships for ecologically and commercially important species to advance spatially-explicit, cumulative risk assessment. To understand the current status of the flora and fauna, the post-doc will collaborate with experts to:
