Mathilde Defourneaux is looking for a field assistant from the 25th of August to the 10th of September 2022. The field assistant will help collect data for Mathilde’s PhD project which is part of a bigger international project (TUNDRAsalad), looking at the effect of changes in herbivore communities on the functionality of the Tundra. The PhD focuses on Iceland and aims to: 1) estimate the contribution of the different herbivores to the nutrient pool in the Icelandic highlands (how much nutrients they contribute to the system and how their movement is actively affecting the nutrient redistribution in the landscape), and 2) investigate how different sources of dung can affect dung decomposition and the nutrient transfer to the soil, as well as the invertebrates communities feeding on them.
Fieldwork is conducted in the Eastern highlands, mainly in Fljótsdalshreppur and focuses on 4 main herbivore species (reindeer, sheep, pink footed goose and whooper swan). It involves various protocols from plants, soil and dung sampling for both nutrient and DNA analysis, as well as estimating primary productivity and herbivore offtake using point frame and exclusion cages. There is also an experiment set up to sample coprophagous invertebrates feeding on sheep and goose dung to estimate invertebrate contribution to dung removal. All fieldwork is conducted in the highlands of Iceland under various weather conditions, and it involves camping or staying in little huts, which can be challenging.
If anyone is interested, please contact Mathilde by email or reach her on her phone number (+354 8435313). She will be very happy to give you more details 🙂
