Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Atmosphärische Umweltforschung (IMKIFU)
The Plant Ecophysiology Group (https://ecophys.imk-ifu.kit.edu/) focuses on research into how trees and forests respond to drought and other environmental change across scales and is looking for a highly motivated new colleague to support the team in spatial data analysis, statistical modelling and model-data integration. You will conduct research within the DFG-funded project “Estimating tree tissue nitrogen content, respiration and net primary production in boreal and temperate forests” (NicerNPP). Within this project, you will integrate recent satellite-derived spatial products of forest biomass with complementary data on tree traits and species distributions to estimate plant respiration and net primary production (NPP) across boreal and temperate forests. For this task, you will compile and analyze a database of measured tree tissue respiration rates. You will then assess the environmental drivers shaping the spatial patterns of respiration and NPP and compare your results with existing NPP products as well as outputs from vegetation models. This work will support improved monitoring of key carbon fluxes for quantifying forest growth and carbon uptake and help enhance their representation in vegetation models, particularly under changing climate and species distributions. You are expected to publish your findings in internationally recognized journals.
Salary
Salary category 13 TV-L, depending on the fulfillment of professional and personal requirements.
Contract duration
2 years. (with the potential option of an extension)
Application up to
February 6th, 2026
Contact person in line-management
For further information, please contact Dr. Martin Thurner (martin.thurner@kit.edu)
