Junior research scientist in forest tree biomechanics

Updated: 3 months ago
Location: Champenoux, LORRAINE
Job Type: FullTime
Deadline: 04 Mar 2025

28 Jan 2025
Job Information
Organisation/Company

French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE)
Department

1434 SILVA
Research Field

Environmental science » Ecology
Researcher Profile

Recognised Researcher (R2)
Country

France
Application Deadline

4 Mar 2025 - 23:59 (UTC)
Type of Contract

Permanent
Job Status

Full-time
Hours Per Week

35
Offer Starting Date

1 Sep 2025
Is the job funded through the EU Research Framework Programme?

Not funded by a EU programme
Is the Job related to staff position within a Research Infrastructure?

No

Offer Description

The SILVA Joint Research Unit (University of Lorraine, AgroParisTech, INRAE) is a multidisciplinary unit with around 150 staff. It studies the functioning of forest ecosystems in the context of global change, with a particular focus on the multiple risks associated with combinations of different hazards (wind, drought, flooding) to propose management and adaptation solutions. You will develop a research project aimed at integrating the biomechanical signal received by trees into forest dynamics models. The growth allocation inside the tree is under strong mechanosensitive control with considerable consequences on forest dynamics. The perception of the mechanical signal by living cells is well-known in biology but less in forestry even though it is an essential factor in the environmental control of tree growth and the active response of trees to stress (acclimation). The response to this signal shapes the trees and, consequently, their resource acquisition and resistance or resilience traits to different stresses. It therefore determines the services provided by forest ecosystems, including carbon storage, whether underground or above ground. Integrating the response to the biomechanical signal into forest dynamics models is a major challenge if we are to make realistic predictions for forests subject to multiple hazards and multiple growth regulation factors.
You will develop a conceptual framework emerging in international communities, combining the mechanical approach to wind risk on a tree structure and the mechanobiology of growth. To do this, you will formalize the integration of physiological and ecophysiological mechanisms in the computation of tree performances (wind resistance, righting capacity, self-support) and for predicting the temporal trajectories of the latter on the scale of forest stands in the context of global change. You will draw on knowledge and approaches from material and structural mechanics, as well as from forest biology. You will compare this framework with the problems of assessing the risks to which forest stands are exposed, as addressed by the Silva joint research unit. You will be able to draw on the metrology and growth modelling skills of your colleagues in the unit, and access to the forest stand monitoring systems managed by the UMR Silva, national forest experimentation and observation infrastructures (In Sylva France, AnaEE and ICOS), as well as the Silvatech analytical platform for characterizing the anatomical and mechanical properties of wood and the CAPSIS modelling platform.


Where to apply
Website
https://jobs.inrae.fr/en/open-competitions/open-competions-research-scientists-…

Requirements
Research Field
Environmental science
Education Level
PhD or equivalent

Additional Information
Website for additional job details

https://jobs.inrae.fr/en/open-competitions/open-competions-research-scientists-…

Work Location(s)
Number of offers available
1
Company/Institute
French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE)
Country
France
City
CHAMPENOUX
Postal Code
54280
Geofield


Contact
City

CHAMPENOUX
Website

https://jobs.inrae.fr/en/open-competitions/open-competions-research-scientists-crcn
Postal Code

54280
E-Mail

jana.dlouha@inrae.fr

STATUS: EXPIRED

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