Job, Post-doctoral fellowship in molecular systematics

[Gary Rosenberg]

Post-doctoral fellowship in molecular systematics

A two-year post-doctoral fellowship in molecular systematics is available at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, under the supervision of Dr. Gary Rosenberg. The main focus of research will be phylogenetics and biogeography of Jamaican landsnails, building on a biotic survey in Jamaica completed over the last few years http://data.acnatsci.org/jamaica/. The post-doctoral fellow will be instrumental in determining the genes and techniques appropriate to test various hypotheses about patterns of diversity in the fauna.

Jamaica has more than 500 endemic species of land snails yet is thought to have been emergent for only about 15 million years, during which time it has never been in contact with another land mass. Nine families of snails have more than 15 endemic Jamaican species: the operculates Helicinidae, Stoastomatidae, Neocyclotidae, Annulariidae and Truncatellidae and the pulmonates Sagdidae, Camaenidae, Urocoptidae, and Oleacinidae. All of the operculates are endemic, as are about 80% of the pulmonates. Most terrestrial snail species in Jamaica have restricted geographic ranges, 20 to 1000 sq. km in a total land area of more than 11,000 sq. km. Knowledge of the phylogeny of various clades should therefore help with reconstructing the biogeographic history of Jamaica. Material of more than 300 species preserved in ethanol is available for study. Targeted collecting of Jamaican species and outgroup taxa in the Caribbean basin will be possible.

The Academy of Natural Sciences, founded in 1812, is the oldest continuously operating natural history museum in North America. It houses some of the world's largest and most important collections of birds, fish, mollusks, insects and plants, with about 17 million specimens. Research programs encompass systematics, phylogenetics, evolutionary biology, biogeography, ecology, and biodiversity informatics.

Post-doctoral fellows are encouraged to contribute to the intellectual life of the Academy, participating in seminars and discussion groups, lending expertise to ongoing research projects in various areas, and supervising students.

Requirements: Ph.D. in biology, experience with DNA sequencing, techniques of molecular analysis and phylogenetic interpretation of molecular data.

To apply, send letter of interest, representative publications, CV, and names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of four references to moede at acnatsci.org or:

Alex Moede, Position # 913 
Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103-1195