Job Description

The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE) is a public research establishment. It is a community of 12,000 people with more than 200 research units and 42 experimental units located throughout France. The institute is among the world leaders in agricultural and food sciences, in plant and animal sciences, and is 11th in the world in ecology and environment. INRAE’s main goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. In the face of the increase in population, climate change, scarcity of resources and decline in biodiversity, the institute develops solutions for multiperformance agriculture, high quality food and sustainable management of resources and ecosystems.

Your research activity will be develop within the UMR CARRTEL. CARRTEL (Alpine Center for research on trophic networks and limnic ecosystems) has an expertise in the functioning and biodiversity of lake ecosystems. You will work in collaboration with scientists studying ecology of fish communities (trophic ecology, long-term dynamics, invasive species, predator-prey relationships) and fishery indicators (reproductive phenology, evolution of stocks). You will also be able to collaborate within already existing networks in genetics and fish ecology (several INRAE laboratories, Univ. Lausanne CH, HEPIA Geneva CH).

Your main research goal will be (i) to characterize the diversity (including intra-specific) for emblematic lake fish species, in particular in connection with the stocking practices, (ii) via experimentation, but also the coupling of experimentation - in situ observation – historical observation, to specify the determinants of the fish populations responses to environmental changes (in particular thermal conditions), (iii) to provide useful elements for adaptive fisheries management in the context of global change.
To identify the determinants of the response of fish populations to environmental changes, your research work will aim at :
- Taking better account of intra-specific diversity and more generally clarifying the relevant levels of diversity for the management and conservation of fish species.
- Evaluating the impact of stocking practices on fish populations, whether plastic or adaptive, face to environmental changes
- (Re)assessing the effect of local pressures in the context of global warming
- Taking into account the different stages of the life cycle when studying populations' responses to environmental forcing.
- Combining different types of indicators, including life history traits and other phenotypic traits, genetics and if possible the epigenetic component.

Your reserach work will mainly focus on lake salmonids of heritage and halieutic interest in alpine lakes in order to (i) analyze inter and intra-specific diversity at different scales, focusing on ecosystem where native populations have been (or not) restocked, (ii) assess the state of conservation of this diversity and its compatibility with the sustainability of the population.

You will conduct both field researches and experimental ones. Technical platforms and experimental facilities of the UMR CARRTEL will be available. You will also have access to biological collections for genetics and / or sclerochronology studies on long time series. The "biodiversity and ecogenomics" lab (at Carrtel) will be used for molecular biology and work on genetic (and epigenetic) characterization, in parallel with INRAE sequencing platforms.




Formation/Capacités :
PhD or equivalent
PhD or equivalent in Ecology, or Biology of populations and Evolution, ...
You have robust knowledge on the concepts in population ecology (of fish) and you have skills in population genetics. You have an expertise on methods used in ichthyology (sclerochronology, demography, etc.) and on methods used to study population genetics, with practical knowledge of massive sequencing and genotyping tools.
You also have an established experience with in situ and ex situ experimentations (experimental design, etc.).
You have the ability to mobilize a scientific network, including at the international level. Fluency in English is essential as well as long-term international experience: successful candidates who have not yet had one will have to undertake a scientific stay in a foreign research lab, and extend academic contacts abroad.
You have a good sense of organization, teamwork and good personal and relational skills with a need for interaction with technical staff, engineers and researchers. You also have teaching skills for communication and scientific mediation.


Localisation : INRAE - CARRTEL
74200 THONON LES BAINS
https://www6.dijon.inrae.fr/thonon

Contact :
Isabelle DOMAIZON isabelle.domaizon@inrae.fr
Jean GUILLARD jean.guillard@inrae.fr

Postuler :
Les candidats ont jusqu’au 4 mars 2021 pour s’inscrire sur le site d’INRAE :

https://jobs.inrae.fr/en/open-competitions/open-competions-research-scientists-job-profiles-crcn