Institut für Meteorologie und Klimaforschung Atmosphärische Umweltforschung (IMKIFU)
Do you have a strong interest in forest ecosystems, climate extremes, and carbon cycling? Are you excited about linking physiological mechanisms to landscape-scale patterns to address pressing challenges related to forest dieback and climate mitigation? Are you motivated to work in an interdisciplinary and international research environment?If so, we invite applications for a PhD position in the Plant Ecophysiology Lab as part of a multidisciplinary, international research training group with partners at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany, the University of Melbourne (UoM), Australia and the University of Hohenheim, Germany. C4LaNd is a new research training group in which doctoral researchers from a variety of disciplines approach the issue of sustainably using land for the benefit of both people and nature from a variety of angles. The group offers the opportunity to receive a dual PhD degree from KIT and UoM, as well as a one-year research stay in Melbourne, Australia. Further information on C4LaNd, and the Ph.D. positions advertised can be found at C4LaNd.earthThe PhD position, 'Forest Vulnerability to Hotter Droughts', is within the Plant Ecophysiology Lab (https://ecophys.imk-ifu.kit.edu) at the KIT-Campus Alpin in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany Project Background and Research Question:Forests across Europe and beyond are increasingly threatened by hotter droughts, which are leading to rising tree mortality and may undermine forests' role as carbon sinks. However, forest vulnerability is not spatially uniform and varies strongly among species and environmental conditions. The overarching research question of this PhD project is: How do hotter droughts alter the physiological mechanisms and thresholds of tree mortality, and how can these processes be linked to landscape-scale patterns of forest vulnerability?Your main tasks will be:investigate physiological mechanisms and mortality thresholds of trees under hotter droughts through experimental approaches identify spatial patterns and hotspots of forest vulnerability using remote sensing data and climatic informationintegrate experimental and landscape-scale observations to develop a mechanistic framework of heat-induced forest decline publish results in peer-reviewed journals and present findings at international conferences
Salary
Salary category 13 TV-L, depending on the fulfillment of professional and personal requirements.
Contract duration
3,5 years.
Application up to
17.05.2026
Contact person in line-management
For further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Nadine Rühr, nadine.ruehr@kit.edu.
