PhD position in Organic and Isotope Geochemistry and Palaeontology within the ERC project “Deconvolving the early record of eukaryotic evolution”
MARUM - Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology (SSP)
This PhD position is part of an ERC project that investigates the Neoproterozoic and early Palaeozoic as a critical interval in Earth history, when eukaryotes became ecologically successful and animals emerged and diversified. The project develops and applies molecular and isotope-based approaches in organic geochemistry and palaeontology to deconvolve mixed sedimentary signals and to reconstruct ancient ecosystems and carbon-cycle dynamics during major environmental perturbations.
The PhD project explores global ecological and evolutionary change across the Neoproterozoic and early Palaeozoic, with a focus on the rise and diversification of eukaryote-dominated ecosystems. The project aims to resolve how the composition of primary producers and the functioning of marine ecosystems changed through time, and how these changes are recorded in sedimentary biomarker, palaeontological and stable carbon isotope records. This project tackles one of the central open questions in Earth history - how eukaryote-dominated ecosystems emerged and transformed marine biogeochemistry, and how the planet shifted from a bacteria-dominated world to animal-dominated ecosystems.