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| Title | Intern, Assessing Ecosystem Vulnerability to Climate Change |
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| Description |
IMPORTANT: This Advertiser has requested that applicants MUST be National Residents / Valid Work Permit-holders. Other applicants need not apply.
Conservation International's Science + Knowledge Division is seeking an intern to assist with assessing ecosystem vulnerability to climate change. Ecosystems and the services they contribute to human well-being have recently come to the fore as a key research theme in conservation and development. There is, however, currently a dearth of understanding of how climate change may impact individual ecosystems, their component species and the ecological processes that define them. Which ecosystems for example are likely to be most susceptible to climate change, and which face the greatest degree of exposure? RESPONSIBILITIES: Using the subset of Global 200 ecoregions across Africa, the intern will synthesize available information from the scientific and grey literature in order to identify critical biotic and / or abiotic drivers that underlie the stability and function of individual ecosystems (e.g. fire frequency in the Fynbos of South Africa; number of cloud days in the montane forests of the Albertine Rift; grazing intensity of large herbivore in the Savanna biome). They will then utilize the latest data on climatic shifts (e.g. "novel" and "disappearing" climates), together with assessments of current ecosystem threat (e.g. percentage of ecoregion already transformed) to evaluate the potential magnitude of climate change impacts on identified drivers. This will allow a unique first-cut assessment of ecoregion vulnerability across Africa and identification of those systems most likely to face potentially catastrophic collapse and consequent loss of critical services. WORKING CONDITIONS: Three (3) months full-time (or equivalent) based in CI's headquarters in Arlington, VA (other arrangements will be considered for exceptional applicants within the Washington, DC area). Stipend is not available. QUALIFICATIONS:
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