May 2024: thesis offer at Palevoprim
Ph.D. student in paleontology and paleoecology (M/F)
Supervisor: Gildas Merceron et Jean-Renaud Boisserie
Start date: October 1st 2024
Deadline for application: June 3 2024
The link to apply is here : https://emploi.cnrs.fr/Candidat/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fCandidat%2fOffre%2fUMR7262-GILMER-005%2fCandidater.aspx
Contact: gildas.merceron@univ-poitiers.fr
Project: The study of the drivers of human evolution in Africa over the last three million years frequently focuses on correlations between global climate dynamics and the fossil record. This PhD topic proposes a different approach based on the biogeographical history of African biotas. Preliminary comparisons between a number of sites in eastern Africa suggest contrasting evolutionary histories for various groups, including the human lineage, between different watersheds. Comparing these histories on several geographic scales will allow to test the relative importance of global climate and local factors.
The setting for this PhD will be the northern part of the eastern African rift system from the early evidence for Late Pliocene Northern Hemisphere glaciations (ca. 3.3 Ma) until the Mid-Pleistocene Transition, another phase of climate change dated to ca. 1 Ma. The Lower Omo Valley (Shungura and Usno formations, Ethiopia), the Turkana depression (Kenya, Ethiopia, including the Omo) and the northern rift (from Afar in Ethiopia to Ngorongoro in Tanzania) will be the three spatial scales of study for which abundant, high-quality data are available.
The work will focus on a diversity of vertebrate groups and ecological guilds, providing more comprehensive data at the ecosystem level and relatively well-documented evolutionary histories. Several indicators of responses to environmental dynamics will be taken into account: taxonomic diversity, ecomorphological markers (hypsodonty, substrate adaptations), and independent paleoecological proxies (stable isotopes, dental wear).
In conjunction with paleoenvironmental data (sedimentology, pollen, etc.), the aim will be to build comparisons between ecological gradients and taxon distributions, between combined dispersal and endemism phenomena and local environmental conditions.
Work context: This international thesis is based on a partnership between the laboratory PALEVOPRIM (CNRS & University of Poitiers, paleoecology and GIS analytical skills, also hosting the PhD student) and the Centre français des études éthiopiennes (CNRS & Ministry of Europe and Foreing Affairs, paleontology and fossil record). The student will be integrated into the Omo Group Research Expedition program, which conducts interdisciplinary and international research on the evolution of the ecosystem of the lower Omo valley (Turkana Depression, southwestern Ethiopia).