Theoretical impacts of reproductive modes on the dynamics of genetic diversity of invasive populations and application on the case of the aquatic invasive plant, /Ludwigia grandiflora subsp. hexapetala/.
Post-doc positionat INRAE, L'institut Agro, UMR ESE in Rennes (west coast of France), 18-month position.
Keywords:population genetics, invasive species, reproductive modes (clonality, allogamy, autogamy), demography, spatial structure, dispersal.
Context:
Invasive species are good opportunities to understand how para- and peri-patric populations contribute to the biological evolution of organisms. Reproductive modes are key component to understand and predict the success of invasive species, with deep consequences on their demography, dispersal, genetic and phenotypic evolution and adaption to the new habitats. Understanding the impacts of reproductive modes, demography and dispersal on the genetic diversity of a newly introduced species colonizing new areas will help predicting evolutions of invasive populations and inferring the ecological and evolutionary processes driving their biology.
The ANR Clonix2D project^1 is an international, collaborative project aiming at understanding the evolutionary consequences of partial clonality on genetic diversity and it structure during colonization events using a multidisciplinary approach involving mathematical modelling, simulations, and population genomics using various model species across the eurkaryotic domain. We developed demogenetic models and methods to understand, track and predict the evolution of partially clonal, polyploid populations colonizing new areas. We currently use these mathematical models to infer the ecological and evolutionary processes ongoing on the major aquatic invasive populations of /Ludwigia grandiflora/ subsp. /hexapetala /(Lgh) colonizing western Europe watersheds. We demonstrated that this decaploid /Ludwigia/ species reproduces using both sexuality and clonality and mates through a self-incompatible with at least one self-compatible type capable of selfing. We recently acquired a huge genotyping dataset on 37 populations over the Loire watershed, including temporal and parentage sampling on fewer populations.
We propose a postdoc position for 18 months to explore the ecological and evolutionary processes ongoing in these partially-clonal polyploid invasive populations, using their current genetic diversity and structure.
Conditions:
The recruited applicant will join the genetic, ecology and evolution group of INRAE/Institut Agro group working on theoretical and applied population biology in Rennes (France) with direct collaboration with Solenn Stoeckel (Demecology, IGEPP^2 ) and Dominique Barloy (Evolutionary ecology of systems perturbed by biological invasions and xenobiotics, ESE^3 ) for 18 months, daily available for group discussions, analyses and co-writings. Monthly gross salary from 2 800 euro to 3 000 euro , depending on professional experience, including vacation. Our team and Rennes research community constitute a friendly, open, inclusive, egalitarian and efficient environment to tackle ecological and evolutionary studies about invasive species, reproductive modes and the dynamics of genetic diversity within species, with skilled people in genetics, ecology, mathematical modelling and computing sciences., collaborative analyses Duties:
The candidate will actively contribute to the analysis, interpretation and publication of the existing equations and datasets, specially developed and acquired for this project. These datasets include i/ the numerical outputs of the adaptable mathematical and simulation models, ii/ the already-acquired /Ludwigia grandiflora/ genotyping dataset across western Europe, and iii/ additional already-acquired genotyping datasets on partially clonal and potentially allo- and auto-gamous species across the eukaryote domains (publicly available, or in collaboration within the project with partners studying algae, fungi, tree species, recently spreading into new areas). We expect the postdoc to integrate their work in the living, friendly and established collaboration between Ifremer MARBEC (Sophie Arnaud-Haond) and Universityof Kansas (Maria E. Orive), and with ANR Clonix2D project partners, including Universidad Austral de Chile (Marie-Laure Guillemin), INRAE Nancy (Fabien Halkett), University of Alabama at Birmingham (Stacy Krueger-Hadfield), INRAE Bordeaux (Stéphanie Mariette) and CNRS Roscoff (Myriam Valero). We propose to use the /Ludwigia/ dataset as an application of a more general study of the impacts of reproductive modes on the dynamics of genetic diversity in invasive populations using mathematical and simulation outputs of our own customisable developments, and, in a second step, to extend the application of the made advances, with the partners of the project on further species. The results of this study will ultimately contribute to definite new /Ludwigia/ management recommendations for national park reserves managers.
Qualifications:
The successful candidate has a Ph.D. in the field of theoretical and/or applied population genetic, evolution and ecology. We also accept candidate with a Ph.D. in mathematics of stochastic processes and advanced statistics. They should have demonstrated experience in population genetics approaches to study genetic diversity, ecology and evolution of current populations, with the stated desire to explore our already-acquired datasets and to write the resulting manuscripts. We will thus favor candidates interested in demonstrating, or with an already-demonstrated, record of productivity in collaborative publications.
Contacts - How to apply:
Please contact Solenn and Dominique with your CV (including a list of publications and drafts; communications; and tackled topics during your trainings and Ph.D.) and a brief overview of your interests in few lines. Please be prepared to provide scientific references from advisor, collaborator and/or thesis committee members. The position is open until filled with an anticipated start date by the end of spring 2022. -Solenn Stoeckel (INRAE UMR IGEEP) solenn.stoeckel@inrae.fr https://www6.rennes.inrae.fr/igepp_eng/Personnel/S/Stoeckel-Solenn -Dominique BARLOY (L'institut Agro - Agrocampus Ouest UMR ESE) https://www6.rennes.inrae.fr/ese_eng/PEOPLE/Personne_umr/(idpers)/235/(idlang)/uk
Links:
1 https://anr.fr/Project-ANR-18-CE32-0001
2 https://www6.rennes.inrae.fr/igepp_eng/Research-teams/Demecology
3 https://www6.rennes.inrae.fr/ese_eng/ABOUT-US/Research-Groups/equipe/(idstructure)/32/(idlang)/uk
