We invite applications from UK and EU candidates for this fully-funded PhD studentship.

Dargie et al. (2017) published the first comprehensive field evidence from the Cuvette Centrale of the Congo Basin, Africa, showing that the basin is largely underlain by peat. The carbon stored in this peat, about 30 Petagrams – equivalent to 3 yrs of the worlds fossil fuel emissions of carbon - a substantial new discovery which significantly improves our understanding of the global carbon cycle.

The aim of this PhD studentship is to contribute to the NERC-funded CongoPeat project, which involves a team from the Universities of Leeds, St Andrews, Edinburgh, Leicester, Nottingham, and Exeter, and many project partners, and which aims to better understand the development, contemporary function and future of the Congo Basin peat swamp forests.

The first work-package (WP1) of the project has as its objective to "Understand the genesis, development and maintenance of the peatland complex". Within that framework, the student will be working alongside a post-doctoral research assistant (PDRA) on the following key research questions:

1. How and why has peat accumulation varied through time?

2. Did peatland ecosystems develop in the same way throughout the peatland complex, e.g. by paludification or terrestrialization?

3. How have the peatland vegetation, hydrology and trophic status changed in recent centuries/decades, and how would we expect them to continue to change over the coming decades in the absence of additional disturbance?

4. Are the strong spatial patterns in vegetation visible in satellite data a spatial expression of temporal succession?

The student will seek to describe and explain the present-day spatial patterning in peat and vegetation properties within four individual peatlands (Transects P5/6, 1c, 2b, and 3c in Figure 1). They will undertake pollen and charcoal analysis, geochemical analyses, and dating at low (~500-1000 year) temporal resolution across at least three cores per transect, and will study surface samples arranged along environmental gradients at these sites (200 pollen/charcoal/geochemistry samples in total, 25 14C dates). The student’s project will complement more intensive single-core studies carried out at each site by the PDRA, and has theoretical links to literatures on plant succession, chronosequences, and environmental gradients.

The studentship is funded for four years. The student will participate in at least one ten-week field campaign to either the Democratic Republic of Congo or the Republic of Congo in order to collect samples. Fieldwork will require working for extended periods in the hot, humid conditions of tropical swamp forest, camping in the forest or in villages, and with transport by boat and on foot.

Labwork will focus on microscopic analysis of pollen and charcoal, with some time spent on other types of analysis. The student will be fully trained in palynological techniques, including sample preparation (they will be expected to prepare their own samples – this is a vital part of training). Given that very little palaeoenvironmental research has been done in the Congo Basin, work is needed to develop a robust palynological taxonomy, in collaboration with our project partners. Thus the student should have an enthusiasm for careful microscopic analysis; they will be expected to visit reference collections in the UK, France and Germany.

The student will be expected to develop their work for publication and for presentation at international conferences, with full support from their supervisors.

The student will join a sizeable interdisciplinary team of tropical peatland specialists at St Andrews and, in particular, will work closely with a post-doctoral research assistant on the CongoPeat project based in the same laboratory, as well as with researchers working on similar questions in Peru. They will be supervised by Dr Ian Lawson, Dr Katherine Roucoux, and Prof Simon Lewis (Leeds). Applicants can read more about our work at http://tropicalwetlands.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk.

The student will be based in the School of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews, along with ~35 other PhD students. Students in the School are offered a wide range of training opportunities, from one-to-one training by supervisors, to access to a high-quality suite of more than 90 courses in ‘generic skills’ offered by the University (from giving conference presentations to multivariate statistical analysis in R; see https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/capod/students/pgresearch/gradskills/). The student will also be a member of St Leonard’s College (the University’s graduate school), the IAPETUS NERC Doctoral Training Partnership, and the SAGES (Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society) Graduate School. These three institutions provide a further range of training and networking opportunities, with a particular focus on building interdisciplinary awareness, a vital counterbalance to subject-specific focus.

The University of St Andrews is Scotland’s oldest and is consistently ranked as one of the UK’s best universities for teaching, research, and student satisfaction. The ancient town of St Andrews, surrounded by beautiful coastline and countryside, holds a wealth of attractions for visitors and residents alike, and provides a first-class environment for study.

Owing to funding restrictions, the studentship is only available to candidates who are eligible for UK/EU fees.

How to apply

We invite applications from well qualified candidates with a background in Geography, Geology, Ecology, or a related science-based discipline. Applicants should have experience of fieldwork in challenging conditions, and experience of microscope analysis; previous training in Quaternary palaeoecology would be an advantage.

Please follow the instructions at https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/apply/postgraduate/research/. Please note that we additionally require you to submit a recent, relevant piece of academic work (a dissertation, for example).

Please note that additional eligibility criteria may apply: contact us for further information.

Questions should be addressed to Dr Ian Lawson, itl2@st-andrews.ac.uk.

The deadline for applications is 5 pm on Friday 18 January 2019.

Further reading

Dargie, G. C. et al. (2017) ‘Age, extent and carbon storage of the central Congo Basin peatland complex’, Nature. Nature Publishing Group, 542(7639), pp. 86–90. doi: 10.1038/nature21048.

Draper, F. C. et al. (2014) ‘The distribution and amount of carbon in the largest peatland complex in Amazonia’, Environmental Research Letters, 9(12), p. 124017. doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/9/12/124017.

Kelly, T. J. et al. (2017) ‘The vegetation history of an Amazonian domed peatland’, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Elsevier, 468, pp. 129–141. doi: 10.1016/J.PALAEO.2016.11.039.

Kelly, T. J. et al. (2018) ‘Continuous human presence without extensive reductions in forest cover over the past 2500 years in an aseasonal Amazonian rainforest’, Journal of Quaternary Science. Wiley-Blackwell, 33(4), pp. 369–379. doi: 10.1002/jqs.3019.

Lawson, I. T. et al. (2014) ‘The Geochemistry of Amazonian Peats’, Wetlands. Springer Netherlands, 34(5), pp. 905–915. doi: 10.1007/s13157-014-0552-z.

Roucoux, K. H. et al. (2013) ‘Vegetation development in an Amazonian peatland’, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. Elsevier, 374, pp. 242–255. doi: 10.1016/J.PALAEO.2013.01.023.