PhD: Shelter under Shards – habitat changes quantify growth of dilatant rock fracture networks in mountain belts

We are looking for students who are interested in bridging disciplinary gaps between the geosciences and the biosciences and in establishing links to social sciences – skills that are essential to address the challenges caused by the ongoing climate and biodiversity crises. The students will be based in the FWF-funded doctoral program AlpsChange, which is integrated into the Doctoral School “Dynamic Mountain Environments and Society” at the Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg and offers an interdisciplinary research and training agenda.

The students will be part of an active and interdisciplinary consortium, conduct research at the interface between geo- and biosciences and apply state-of-the-art approaches and methods of both disciplines and of history (e.g. remote sensing, field and laboratory experiments and analyses, numerical and analogue modelling), benefiting from the wide range of expertise available in the AlpsChange consortium. Each student will be supervised by an interdisciplinary team of researchers.

Applications for one or more of the 10 projects (see below) are welcome. Please indicate your preference if you are applying for more than one of the projects. A successful applicant will be highly motivated, proficient in English language and scientific writing, and willing to work in an interdisciplinary context. A master-level degree or equivalent in a relevant discipline, preferably in the field of bio- or geosciences, is required.

Please send your application stating your project preference and including a letter of motivation, CV, certificates and contact details of two potential referees in electronic form as a single pdf file latest by April 13th 2025 to AlpsChange(at)plus.ac.at. Please contact AlpsChange(at)plus.ac.at in case you have any questions. Start dates are flexible between October 2025 and January 2026. All projects will be fully funded for 3.5 years and students will receive a monthly salary based on currently € 2786 before tax. Further information can be found at the AlpsChange Homepage.

Description of Project 4:

Shelter under Shards – habitat changes quantify growth of dilatant rock fracture networks in mountain belts

Under a rapidly changing climate, mountains react with increased erosion rates, and consequently formation of open rock fractures. While on the one hand, such fractures may result in geohazards such as rock falls, they may on the other hand form local habitats and micro-climatic niches. While their geometry has been studied in detail, their time evolution is challenging to constrain. Particularly, it is unknown how rapidly these fracture networks evolve under changing climate. This knowledge is however vital for determining how such fractures develop into geohazards or into micro-habitats. on Indeed, micro-habitat evolution may be used to determine fracture growth rates. In turn, it is important to assess how ecosystems can adjust to different rates of fracture propagation and consequently evolving micro-habitats. We hypothesize that fracture growth in dynamically changing mountains forms local habitats in which different species can find niches sheltering them from large-scale landscape changes. They form local bio-diversity hotspots. In turn, the degree of soil formation, the diversity of inhabiting species as well as the type of species present provide information on the time evolution of fracture growth. Main supervisors: Christoph von Hagke, Anja Hörger

More Info:

https://www.plus.ac.at/personalwesen/stellenmarkt-en/projektmitarbeiter-innen-en/doctoral-school-dynamic-mountain-environments-and-society/?lang=en