MSCA-IF: Joint application at the University of Granada. Department of Ecology

Professor Rafael Rubio de casas, from the Department of

Ecology at the University of Granada, welcomes postdoctoral candidates interested in applying for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (MSCA-IF) in 2018 at this University. Please note that applicants must comply with the Mobility Rule (more information: http://sl.ugr.es/09Qg).

Brief description of the institution:

The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is one of the largest and most important universities in Spain. It serves more than 60000 students per year, including many foreign students, as UGR is the leader host institution in the Erasmus program. UGR, featuring 3650 professors and more than 2000 auxiliary personnel, offers a total of 75 degrees through its 112 departments and 28 centers.

UGR is also a leading institution in research, located in the top 5/10 of Spanish universities by a variety of ranking criteria, such as national R&D projects, fellowships awarded, publications, or international funding. UGR is one of the few Spanish Universities listed in the Shanghai Top 500 ranking (http://www.arwu.org/), and it is also well recognized for its web presence (http://www.4icu.org/top200/).

Internationally, we bet decidedly by our participation in the calls of H2020, both at partner and coordination. For the duration of the Seventh Framework Programme, the UGR has obtained a total of 66 projects, with total funding of 17.97 million euros, and for H2020, until 2015, more than 25 projects with total funding of more than 6 million euros. Our more than 3,000 researchers are grouped into 365 research groups covering all scientific fields and disciplines.

Brief description of the Centre/Research Group

Our lab works on the evolutionary dynamics of habitat selection in plants. In essence, we try to establish how different components of the phenotype determine a plant’s habitat, taking into account that any extant trait results from the interaction between phylogenetic contingency and natural selection. We investigate the functional aspects and the evolutionary processes of habitat selection in plants using several systems and a variety of approaches, bridging evolutionary and functional ecology and incorporating tools from mathematical modeling, phylogenetics, population and functional genetics and plant ecophysiology.

Our lab is part of the research group “Terrestrial Ecology” (RMN 220) (http://ecologia.ugr.es/pages/investigacion/grupos/ecoter) ºnd of the research network Evoflor (http://wpd.ugr.es/~evoflor/).

Project description

Domestication led to the evolution of crops from wild ancestors and entailed a significant differentiation in a suite of traits that facilitate plant exploitation under farming conditions. However, domestication is not a lineal process, and feralization events in which domestic populations spawn wild ones are frequent. During feralization, traits change again to adapt to local conditions and thus diverge from the crop phenotype. Resulting populations are of interest as a genetic resource and provide a unique natural experiment in rapid evolution. The candidate will explore the domestication-feralization continuum across different systems and traits.

He/she will have to integrate agronomic, ecological, evolutionary and genetic approaches. Our main research systems are legumes (Fabaceae) that were early domesticates and historically major crops in S. Europe, but which currently occur mainly as wild or feral elements in the region. However, they remain important commodities at a global scale. Therefore, their detailed characterization can be of wide interest for theoretical and applied reasons. In these species, we study phenotypic divergence in traits that have changed significantly under cultivation (i.e., those involved in the “domestication syndrome”) as well as those that are less adaptive under cultivation, such as nodulation capacity. We undertake a four-level characterization of plant material: a) Phenotypic; b) Genetic; c) Epigenetic and d) Transcriptomic. The candidate is expected to contribute significantly at least at two of those levels, so experience with general plant biology (botany), ecology and molecular genetics techniques will be valued.

Research Area

• Life Sciences (LIFE)
• Environmental Sciences and Chemistry (ENV-CHE)

For a correct evaluation of your candidature, please send the documents below to Professor Rafael Rubio de casas (rubiodecasas@ugr.es):

• CV
• Letter of recommendation (optional)