The Faculty of Science and Engineering at Åbo Akademi invites applications for a postdoctoral researcher position within the Digital Waters Doctoral Education Pilot. The postdoctoral researcher position is full-time and will be seated at the Faculty of Science and Engineering at the subject of Environmental and Marine Biology in Turku.
Description of the position
The postdoctoral researcher will work within the project: “Ecological impacts of ferry traffic waves on littoral biodiversity and ecological processes in an archipelago seascape”.
Physical disturbance is a major factor shaping coastal marine ecosystems, their biodiversity, and ecosystem services. The Archipelago Sea is one of the busiest regions when it comes to cargo, tourist, and ferry traffic in the northern Baltic Sea. The maritime shipping business is of major importance to the local economy. Simultaneously this activity creates disturbances and potentially loss of coastal biodiversity. Ferry traffic waves and currents likely interact directly with both the shallow rocky shore and soft sediment communities through sediment resuspension, erosion, and deterioration of water transparency.
However, there is no systematic quantitative information about the physical wave environment or the scale and ecological consequences of this human activity on marine littoral biodiversity, community structure, and key ecological processes such as macroalgal production, predator-prey interactions, and faunal and floral recruitment.
The field work is carried out jointly with a team of researchers in hydrogeography and marine ecology and will benefit from a collaboration with two doctoral researchers studying ecological responses of the bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus) community to ferry waves. The work will be carried out along fairways in the Archipelago Sea, SW Finland using SCUBA diving and/or snorkeling. Novel automated monitoring instruments targeting both the wave/flow disturbance regime and light climate will also be applied.
The postdoctoral researcher is expected to carry out independent research and lead the publication process in collaboration with the team above. We strongly encourage the applicant to come up with own, novel research questions and experimental approaches related to the research theme “physical disturbance and ecological processes” outlined above.
Salary
The postdoctoral researcher’s salary is based on levels 5–6 of the job demand levels for teaching and research staff. In addition, an individual salary component based on personal work performance is added to the salary. Please see the salary chart for teaching and research personnel.
Researchers have a total working time of 1,612 hours per year. A trial period of six months applies to all new employees. The person appointed will have access to occupational health care services.
Application and selection process
Please submit your electronic application in the ÅAU recruitment system (www.abo.fi/rekrytering) no later than March 6th, 2025 at 15:00 (EEST, Finnish time zone).
