PhD Position in Soil-plant Hydraulics (2+2yrs): Understanding Plant Responses to Drought

Plant transpiration represents between 45 to 85% of the terrestrial fluxes and is, therefore, a key driver of the continental water cycle globally. Yet, predicting plant water transpiration evolution under a changing climate is still challenging. While the demand for evapotranspiration depends on the atmospheric conditions, available soil water, which controls the plant water supply, is the main constraint on transpiration.

Recently, it has been demonstrated that soil hydraulic resistance was a key driver of stomatal closure (Carminati and Javaux, 2020). This hypothesis implies that stomatal functioning will be a function of soil type and not only dependent on plant genotype. In other words, plant response to drought might not be only plant-specific but also soil- and climate-specific.

In UPSET, we will investigate how soil and plant hydraulic properties impact plant response to drought. Systematic drought experiments will be carried out in different substrates, while root and soil hydric status will be monitored and controlled. Stomatal opening, hydraulic and chemical signals will be also measured. Root and soil hydraulic conductances will be measured in the lab. We will analyze how short- (through stomatal control and signaling) and long-term (through root and leaf development) mechanisms allow plants to deal with soil hydric limitations. The long term goal is to analyze how plant resilience to drought is affected by the environment (soil and climatic conditions).

Your responsabilities:

· Performing and analyzing plant water drought experiments under controled conditions

· Using numerical and conceptual models to analyze the data and characterize plant responses to drought

· Writing scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals and presenting results in international conferences

Your profile:

– Master degree whose training focuses primarily on (bio)physics, bioscience engineering, mathematics, or soil/environmental physics.

– Experimental skills with plants

– Programing skills: R, Matlab or Python

– Aptitude for teamwork, good spoken and written English is appreciated.

Our offer

The project is funded by an FNRS (National Science Fund of Belgium) through the project UPSET (Unravelling the impacts of Plant-Soil hydraulics on stomatal rEgulaTion). It includes funding to cover competitive salary, lab, and conference expenses for a 24-month PhD program. In the meantime, the candidate and the supervisor will apply for an extension of 2 yrs towards the completion of a Ph.D. degree at the Earth and Life Institute of UCLouvain.

Application

Candidates must send a detailed CV, Academic transcripts of your Master, a motivation letter, and one reference letter (all included in one pdf file) to Mathieu Javaux (mathieu.javaux@uclouvain.be) as soon as possible.