Our pal and collaborator Steve Frank in the Entomology Department at NCSU is advertising a post-doctoral position (available immediately) to study the consequences of urban heat islands and global climate change on arthropods of conservation, economic, or human health importance.

In other words, how do insects respond to the increased temperatures associated with inner city living? And what, in turn, might be the consequences of those changes in their physiology, life cycle and ecology on the plants those insects eat?

So far Steve and collaborators have detected a significant urban heat island effect in Manhattan and Raleigh, where the warmest areas of those cities are as much as 10 degrees warmer than nearby natural areas. And Emily Meineke, a graduate student in the Frank lab, has uncovered that scale insects are way more abundant in urban areas than rural areas – the goal of her research is to find out how and why the scale benefit from the urban heat islands.

Here’s Emily talking about her research:

Future work in the lab will include large observational studies across cities and controlled experiments in large-scale outdoor climate chambers.

The successful post-doc applicant will also have the opportunity to work as part of a collaborative group that includes Rob Dunn (Department of Biology), Meg Lowman (Nature Research Center), Nick Haddad (Department of Biology), and Nadia Singh (Department of Genetics).

Click here for full position description and application instructions. Review of applications will begin March 5.

Good luck!