PIF2025 - Unravelling the role of oceanic connectivity for the resilience of marine ecosystems - (PID2024-162762OB-I00)

The doctoral thesis will be carried out within the project PID2024-162762OB-I00, Ocean Connectivity and Ecological Assessment within a Novel Integrated Context (OCEANIC), and will aim to evaluate marine connectivity and its main drivers in ecosystems of the Mediterranean and/or the tropical central Pacific. It will examine the role of connectivity in shaping ecosystem structure and functioning and in modulating resilience to different types of impacts, with particular attention to those associated with climate change. Throughout the project, the PhD candidate will specialise in multidisciplinary approaches to estimate, analyse and, where possible, quantify marine connectivity and its ecological effects, combining intrinsic markers such as stable isotopes with statistical and mechanistic modelling to describe and predict connectivity patterns and their implications for ecosystem dynamics and conservation status in the study systems