Benedikt Haug

Exciting PhD position opening up in Montpellier, France:

Project summary
The positive effect of biodiversity on ecosystem production has been widely documented in ecology, highlighting the importance of both
species diversity and intra-species genetic diversity. This average beneficial effect has also been documented in genotype mixtures of
cultivated species, showing, however, a large variation in effects ranging from reduced to enhanced yields in mixtures. This variation can
be explained by different mechanisms underlying plant-plant interactions, rooted in conceptual frameworks of evolutionary biology (e.g.,
kin selection) and ecology (e.g., niche complementarity). While these mechanisms have been the subject of numerous studies for several
decades, the role of phenotypic plasticity in promoting positive or negative mixing effects remains largely unexplored. Because they have

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Apr 9 at 5:13pmWeb
Show threadBenedikt Haug5d ago

...undergone intense selective pressures during their evolutionary history, cultivated species offer compelling models for addressing this
question. In this context, focusing on durum wheat as a model species, the thesis has three main objectives: (i) to decipher the role of
phenotypic plasticity in competitive or cooperative interactions between genotypes and its impact on mixture production, (ii) to identify
the genetic basis of trait plasticity involved in interactions, and (iii) to test to what extent domestication and plant breeding have affected
phenotypic plasticity during the evolutionary history of cultivated plants. From an applied point of view, this work will help to promote
beneficial interactions in intraspecific mixtures and to define breeding schemes adapted to plurigenotypic crops, in the context of the
agro-ecological transition.

Supervisors: Germain Montezeaud and Hélène Fréville

Apply: https://gaia.umontpellier.fr > Future PhD Student > Application to ED GAIA > How to apply

#Jobs #PhDPosition

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'Ecole Doctorale GAIA

L'ED GAIA est une école doctorale de l'Université de Montpellier pour les Sciences du vivant et de l'Environnement et des Sciences et Technologies. Elle est co-accréditée avec Montpellier SupAgro et AgroParisTech pour les Sciences agronomiques et environnementales, et avec l'Ecole des Mines d'Alès (EM A) pour les Sciences Technologiques autour des domaines des matériaux de grande diffusion et de l'Environnement. Deux autres établissements, l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d e Chimie de Montpellier (ECSCM) et l'Office National de La Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (ONCFS) sont associés à l'Ecole Doctorale.