Post-doc, for up to three years: We seek a post-doc to participate
in a US National Science Foundation supported project entitled "The
Paradox of Coexistence: The Evolution of Ontogenetic Interactions".
This research is a continuation of an ongoing experimental study of
the interactions between ecology and evolution in natural streams in
the Northern Range Mountains on the island of Trinidad. Our project is
built around four experimental introductions of guppies into previously
guppy-free tributaries that contain only one other fish species - the
killifish Rivulus hartii. Our prior research has characterized how
each of these species evolves in response to the other and to the way
the ecosystem changes after the guppy introduction. One discovery is
that their interactions include bi-directional intra-guild predation.
Theory predicts that such an interaction is very unlikely to be stable,
yet it proves to be reliably stable in all four introductions and in all
natural streams where these fish coexist. This apparent anomaly is the
basis for an exploration of factors not included in theory that could
lend to this stability, including the contemporary evolution of both
participating species and how these interactions change with the age and
size of individuals in both species. Our project is an integration of
the development of new theory, new experiments to be performed in natural
and artificial streams in Trinidad and the continued study of the four
introductions in natural streams. The post-doc's home base will be with
Joseph Travis (PI) at Florida State University but will include extensive
periods of time in Trinidad, where he/she will execute experiments in
natural and artificial streams. The successful applicant must have
a completed PhD, publication record and extensive field experience.
You can learn more about our project at our website <CNAS.UCR.EDU/guppy>.
To apply, please send a CV and arrange to have at least three letters
of reference sent to David Reznick at david.reznick@ucr.edu.