McDowell Lab Research

Goals - Our group is focused on quantifying mechanisms that control the balance between carbon uptake and water lost at the leaf, whole plant, and ecosystem scales.  This theme is applied to numerous questions that are of national and international consequence, including climate change and climate variability, forest management and disturbance impacts on ecosystems.  We use numerous tools from the plant physiology and ecosystem ecology backgrounds, including water relations tools such as continuous sap flow and water potential measurements, hand-held photosynthesis measurements, and stable isotope measurements.

Principle Investigator - Nathan G. McDowell, Technical Staff Member

Atmospheric, Climate and Environmental Dynamics (EES-2), LANL

Physiological Ecology Postdoctoral Fellowship at Los Alamos Nat'l Lab

Impacts of Climate on Vegetation Survival and Mortality in Southwestern United States

We are seeking a motivated individual interested in employing either empirical or process modeling approaches to investigate mechanisms of vegetation survival and mortality during drought. The DOE-Program for Ecosystem Research funded position is within the Ecohydrology group at Los Alamos National Laboratory's Earth and Environmental Sciences Division. This position is part of a multi-disciplinary and multi-institution, ∼8 year project utilizing replicated, ecosystem-scale manipulations of precipitation (+ and -) in a piñon-juniper woodland at the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research site.

As of 2009, the treatments are in their second year and micromet, water use, and carbon balance measurements are in their third year. We utilize field, laboratory and model-based techniques on plant water relations, carbon balance and stable isotopes. Candidates with interests in any of the above research foci are invited to apply. Results from this work will be of value to fundamental understanding of plant biology and climate as well as for application to climate change simulations.

Required Skills

The applicant should have strengths in any of the above-mentioned research foci with a demonstrated ability to publish peer-reviewed papers; effective written and oral communication skills; willingness to work in a team environment; and a Ph.D. pending or received within the last five years. Desired skills include experience with process modeling; measuring plant hydraulics, gas exchange, carbohydrates, or stable isotopes; willingness to work in the field and a broader knowledge of physiological or ecosystem ecology.

Candidates may be considered for the prestigious Director's, Oppenheimer, Feynman or Reines Fellowships.

For More Information

Please see the project webpage and contact Nate McDowell or Will Pockman. To be considered for the positionm, please send a resume and a very short statement of your future research goals to Dr.'s McDowell and Pockman.