Announcement about recruitment to the Poznań Doctoral School of the Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences at the Institute of Dendrology Polish Academy of Sciences No. 11/2026/ID/PSD

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Announcement about recruitment to the Poznań Doctoral School of the Institutes of the Polish Academy of Sciences at the Institute of Dendrology Polish Academy of Sciences No. 11/2026/ID/PSD Sintesi in italiano (traduzione automatica): L'Istituto di Dendrologia dell'Accademia Polacca delle Scienze di Kórnik è alla ricerca di un dottorando per un progetto di ricerca sulla variabilità delle popolazioni di faggio europeo in risposta ai cambiamenti climatici. Il candidato selezionato parteciperà attivamente a misurazioni in foreste sperimentali, raccoglierà campioni dendrocronologici e materiali per analisi genetiche, e condurrà analisi statistiche sui dati raccolti. È richiesta una laurea in scienze forestali o un campo correlato. Il dottorando dovrà anche contribuire alla preparazione di pubblicazioni accademiche e presentare i risultati in conferenze scientifiche. La scadenza per la presentazione delle domande è il 17 agosto 2026. I. Position type: doctoral student II. Number of vacancies: 1 III. Discipline: forest sciences IV. Application deadline: 17/08/2026 V. Detailed information about recruitment process can be found on the website: https://www.idpan.poznan.pl/en-us/recruitment and https://psd-ipan.ichb.pl/index.php/en/home/ VI. Research topic: variability among European beech populations in terms of growth response to climate change, quantitative genetics, dendroclimatology, dendroecology, genetic variation VII. Principal Investigator / Research group: dr hab. Daniel J. Chmura, prof. ID PAN, Institute of Dendrology Polish Academy of Sciences, Kórnik VIII. Project Description: European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) is a widespread tree species and an important component of forests in Western and Central Europe. Current and projected climate changes pose several risks to beech in the future. Climate is one of the factors that determine growing conditions for tree populations. Local populations within the species often differ in their ability to adapt to new climatic conditions. However, assessing this variation in local environments does not allow investigation of the genetic component of this response. This is only possible in the common garden (provenance) experiments, where variation in traits among multiple populations planted together under the uniform site conditions can be studied in relation to the environment. The aim of this project is to understand and analyze the responsiveness, vulnerability and plasticity of European beech populations to climate change and to assess their adaptive capacity. We aim to provide scientific support for the projections of the species’ fate and for the management of its genetic resources in the context of ongoing environmental changes. In this project we will focus our research on a set of beech populations covering a large part of the natural range of the species. These populations have been planted at different sites in common garden experiments, representing various climatic conditions, and specifically the sites at the eastern limit of the species distribution range. We will measure tree diameter and height growth, and assess the responsiveness of beech populations to climate change by analyzing the relationship between annual tree-ring widths and climatic conditions at various locations in Europe. We will also analyze wood anatomy of individual tree rings as well as their stable carbon isotope composition to gain an insight into the foundations of growth in relation to climatic fluctuations, especially to drought events. The analysis of variation in genomic regions related to stress response and phenology will provide an insight into adaptive potential of populations. We will also model the growth responses of beech populations to climate change based on the sensitivity of their radial growth to climate transfer across a series of common garden experimental sites. The outcomes of our project will be crucial for understanding the response of beech populations and their potential to adapt to future climate. We expect to provide the basis for selecting seed origins that can be considered the sources of populations that are better adapted to future climatic conditions. The PhD student's tasks will include: • active participation in project tasks, i.e. measurements at forest experimental plots and other fieldwork, collecting dendrochronological samples and material for genetic analyses, laboratory processing of samples, dendrochronological analyses, quantitative wood analysis, data interpretation, preparing samples for analyses of 13C isotope, statistical analysis of data and interpretation of results, • continuous advancement of student’s knowledge in a scientific field of the project, • active involvement in the preparation of academic publications to be included in the doctoral thesis and dissemination of results, • presentation of results at scientific meetings, seminars and conferences, • preparation and de Annuncio in inglese. Fonte: Euraxess (Commissione europe