Posted by Ted Feldpausch
15 October 2019We are seeking qualified and motivated candidates to pursue a PhD studying how lighting affects tree mortality, carbon dynamics, and forest composition in tropical forests.
The research is based in Geography at the University of Exeter under the supervision of Dr Tim Hill, Dr Ted Feldpausch, Dr Lucy Roland, and with Prof Manu Haddad at the School of Engineering, Cardiff University. In this project, you will join an interdisciplinary group of tropical ecologists, physicists and electrical engineers who have been recently funded to undertake the first-ever systematic study into lightning-induced tree mortality. The team has developed a novel sensor that allows lightning strikes on trees to be studied for the first time. You will join this team and participate in field campaigns at tropical forest field sites in Ankasa (Ghana). This PhD involves a substantial amount of fieldwork in Ankasa, Ghana. During your PhD, you will be assisting in the installation of sensors and the collection of tree survey data, including allometry, functional traits, soil properties and forest dynamics. This PhD provides the unique opportunity to work with a world-class research team on a genuinely novel research question of global importance and also ample opportunity to develop your own research interests.
More information is available here:
http://www.exeter.ac.uk/studying/funding/award/?id=3683