Two Doctoral Positions in Tropical Forest Ecology, Animal-Plant Interactions and Forest Restoration

The Species Interactions and Ecosystem Health group at ETH Zürich is seeking two motivated Doctoral candidates to join the SNSF Starting Grant project AniCaRes – Animating Carbon Restoration: The Role of Animals in Carbon Sequestration During Forest Restoration. Tropical forest restoration is a key strategy for addressing climate change and biodiversity loss. However, forest recovery depends not only on trees but also on animals, which influence seed dispersal, soil processes, plant establishment and seedling survival. AniCaRes investigates how animal communities shape tropical forest regeneration and carbon recovery across spatial scales. The project combines tropical field experiments, molecular ecology, DNA metabarcoding/eDNA, animal monitoring, remote sensing and ecological modelling, with fieldwork primarily in Panama and Brazil.