Asunto: [BIOEVO] beca posdoctoral
A: BIOEVO@...

POSTDOCTORAL POSITON in ECO-EVO-DEVO at the UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD.

The endocrine basis of phenotypic plasticity in a predator-prey system
(How do hormones control predator induced defences in daphnia?)

3 year NERC (UK) Funded Position - START DATE - Oct/Nov 2006.

Project detail
Why are there so many patterns in colouration, morphology, life
history and behaviour within a particular species? Recently,
developmental biologists and ecologists have begun to join forces to
answer this question in the field of ecological developmental biology
(ECO-DEVO). They are asking how phenotypic plasticity emerges from
the interplay between a changing environment and the physiological
machinery that regulates an organisms development.

This project aims to investigate the developmental (e.g. hormonal)
basis of inducible defences in a classic water-flea (Daphnia pulex) /
phantom midge (Chaoborus spp.) predator-prey system. In this system,
predator based chemical signals induce striking adaptive
morphological and life history plasticity in the prey. The interplay
between invertebrate hormones such as ecdysteroids, juvenile hormone
and other peptides is known to regulate just these types of
developmental changes including the moult cycle and the timing of and
variation in morphology, growth, maturity and development.
The proposed research will test the hypothesis that the chemical
signal that predators emit triggers an adaptive shift in the
endocrine system, leading to adaptive and plastic changes in prey
growth and development. The research aims to:

- identify the hormones and peptides that underpin the induction of
these adaptive, developmental changes;
- identify predator induced change in the time sequence of hormone
concentration; and
- test among four hypothesis for the developmental control of the
induced phenotype.

-Experience with laboratory hormone assays, invertebrate physiology &/
or aquatic community ecology will be helpful.
-Application details forthcoming on http://jobs.ac.uk

Contact for more information:
Dr. Andrew Beckerman
+44 (0)114 222 0026
Dept. of Animal and Plant Sciences, Univ. of Sheffield, Sheffield,
S10 2TN, UK.
a.beckerman@...
http://www.beckslab.staff.shef.ac.uk/


a.beckerman@...


----------------------------------------------------
Archivos de BIOEVO: http://listserv.rediris.es/archives/bioevo.html
------------------------------------------------------