The Laboratory of Microbial Ecology and Biogeography (https://kohoutlab.com/), is looking for a motivated postdoctoral fellow. The person will join the consortium of the Excellence Research Centre Project “INTER-MICRO” that aims to identify global patterns of alien fungal introductions and invasions with consecutive effects on ecosystem processes.
Within the project, the person will be involved in the study of the structure and function of plant-associated or soil fungal communities using our in-house global databases of fungal taxa (namely GlobalFungi (https://globalfungi.com/; Vetrovsky et al. 2020, Sci Data 7) and GlobalAMFungi (https://globalamfungi.com/; Vetrovsky et al. 2023, New Phyt 240) databases) as well as newly collected samples from various environments.
The new postdoc will also gain from our long-term research collaboration with prof. Petr Baldrian (head of the Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology) and prof. Petr Pyšek from the Institute of Botany, Czech Academy of Science.
The position is offered for an initial period of two years but may be extended.
Project summary:
- Invasive alien species introduced by humans outside their native distributions pose a major threat to global biodiversity and economies. Research on the drivers of invasion processes in alien plants and animals has demonstrated high context dependence, complicating the transferability of these findings to other organisms, such as alien fungi. Although numerous invasive alien fungal pathogens have highly detrimental effects on populations of indigenous species, the mechanisms behind fungal invasions have received little attention.
- In recent years, our team has made significant contributions to the growing field of fungal biogeography by identifying global drivers of fungal species distributions and diversity. Notably, we successfully developed the largest atlases of fungal species distribution (GlobalFungi and GlobalAMFungi databases). This work provides sufficient information on the distribution of enough fungal taxa to initiate a comprehensive effort to identify alien fungal taxa introduced outside their native ranges on a global scale.
- This project seeks to address several questions: How can we reliably determine the alien status of fungal species? What is the global extent and diversity of invasive alien fungal introductions? How do fungal species traits, the environmental characteristics of recipient ecosystems, and propagule pressure contribute to the invasion success of alien fungi? The project proposes new methodological approaches to identify alien and invasive alien fungal taxa and assess the relative contributions of fungal species traits, environmental characteristics, and propagule pressure to the invasion process.
We seek:
- PhD degree in the field of mycology, microbiology, ecology or similar
- First-authored papers in leading interdisciplinary journals or high-ranking IF journals in the fields of ecology, mycology or soil science research
- Excellence in English and good communication skills
- Motivation for scientific work within the frames of the project
- During the appointment, the person will be based in Czechia
We offer:
- Work in an inspiring and friendly environment of an international team. For more details about the research group see: https://kohoutlab.com/
- We offer access to interesting experiments / datasets produced by the lab and their collaborators.
- Gross salary: starts from approx. 2800 EUR / month (dependent on candidate’s qualification) full time job.
- Possibility to participate on students’ projects as an advisor.
- 30 days paid holiday per year
- Contribution from the social security systém (Meal allowance, Cafeteria, MultiSport card, contribution to pension credit insurance, to vaccination, summer activities for children …)
Starting date: expected before 30.06.2026
Please send your Curriculum Vitae, motivation letter and contacts to at least two independent professionals (such as PhD or postdoc supervisors) who can provide reference.
Please submit your application to email: and make sure to include this identification code: Postdoc.3.2026.MBU, as it is essential for processing your application.
Application deadline: 31/03/2026
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Anglická verze:
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