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Forests are one of the largest terrestrial ecosystems with high potential to mitigate global warming by the sequestration of large amounts of carbon. This carbon storage depends on a tight coupling between the processes of photosynthetic carbon fixation and transpiration which occur through the phloem and xylem fluxes, respectively. The objective of this project is to develop the first analytical tool with the capacity to non-destructively measure these slow fluxes directly on trees in their natural environment, i.e. in situ. In this context, having a portable NMR sensor would be of great interest. To accomplish this, the MRI system performance must be decreased compared to laboratory systems: e.g., lower magnetic field strength, less powerful gradient coils,…. It then becomes challenging to measure flow rates with classical MRI approaches. The postdoc will be responsible for developing original NMR approaches to measure both xylem and phloem fluxes in trees with a unilateral device and to evaluate the method’s sensitivity.

This position is funded by the French National Research Agency (ANR) through the OutLabMRI project for an initial period of 12 months and could be extended up to 6 months. The gross salary will be between 2500 and 3000 €/month including health insurance, depending on the experience of the candidate. The recruited scientist will be supported by both NMR specialists (AgroResonance team) and plant ecophysiologists (PIAF unit) from the French National Institute for Agricultural , Food and Environmental Research (INRAE) located in Clermont-Ferrand. Clermont-Ferrand is a dynamic student (more than 35 000 students) and research (more than 6 000 researchers) city in the center of France. It has been the first French city to obtain the « learning city » label from UNESCO. The city is surrounded by a chain of volcanoes (Chaine des Puys) which have recently been added to the UNESCO world heritage list. The laboratory is located just outside of Clermont Ferrand in the middle of the chain of volcanoes, full of hiking trails and in close proximity to ski stations https://www.parcdesvolcans.fr/.

Email your CV to

Dr Hervé Cochard          herve.cochard@inrae.fr

Dr Jean-Marie Bonny     jean-marie.bonny@inrae.fr

Dr Guilhem Pagés          guilhem.pages@inrae.fr