PhD project offered by the IMPRS-gBGC in Jan 2026

From Andes to Amazon: Synthesizing Ecohydrological Controls on Carbon–Water–Energy Fluxes Across South America

Jacob A. Nelson , Santiago Botía , Anke Hildebrandt

Project description

Understanding the drivers of land-atmosphere carbon/water fluxes across South America is essential for predicting ecosystem resilience, drought responses, and future climate-carbon feedbacks. South America hosts some of the most carbon-rich and climate-sensitive biomes globally, from semi-arid shrublands and savannas to humid tropical forests and high-elevation Andean ecosystems, yet substantial uncertainties remain regarding their functional sensitivity to hydroclimatic variability and long-term environmental change (Nelson & Walther et al., 2024, Botía et al., 2025). These uncertainties are amplified by the spatial heterogeneity of vegetation types, climate regimes, and disturbance histories across the continent.

This PhD project will employ an integrated, multi-scale approach combining ecosystem-scale flux observations, targeted field campaigns, and statistical analysis to quantify variability and controls of carbon, water, and energy fluxes along climate, biome, and elevational gradients. The core component of the project will be eddy-covariance (EC) flux measurements, mainly from the latest FLUXNET data release, regional South American networks, and emerging site-level datasets that cover transition zones from semi-arid to humid tropics. A component of the work will focus on coordination with local and regional research partners to facilitate international collaboration.

A central component of the thesis will involve field campaigns across strategic sites in the Andes–Orinoquia–Amazon system, designed to complement EC analyses with co-located biophysical and biogeochemical measurements. By coupling these in situ measurements with remote sensing predictors and environmental drivers, the candidate will conduct a synthesis analysis of ecophysiological fluxes across South America. The outcomes of this project will provide new constraints on the sensitivity of South American ecosystems to drought, advance understanding of ecohydrological thresholds along climate and elevation gradients, and contribute to improved continental carbon/water flux products to support regional and global carbon-cycle assessments.

Requirements for the PhD project

Applications are open to motivated and highly qualified students from all countries. Prerequisites include:

Master’s degree in environmental sciences, physics, geosciences, ecology, atmospheric science, engineering, or related fields.
Background in ecosystem carbon/water cycling, micrometeorology, ecophysiology, or land–atmosphere interactions.
Experience with eddy-covariance data or other environmental time-series datasets is an asset.
Strong computational and analytical skills.
Experience with programming languages such as Python, R, and/or Julia.
Familiarity with remote sensing datasets, climate reanalyses (e.g., ERA5), and spatial analysis is beneficial.
Willingness to participate in field campaigns in remote locations.
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
Knowledge of Spanish, Portuguese, and/or German are beneficial.

The Max Planck Society (MPS) strives for gender equality and diversity. The MPS aims to increase the proportion of women in areas where they are underrepresented. Women are therefore explicitly encouraged to apply. We welcome applications from all fields. The MPS has set itself the goal of employing more severely disabled people. Applications from severely disabled persons are expressly encouraged.

References

Nelson, J. A., Walther, S., Gans, F., Kraft, B., Weber, U., Novick, K., Buchmann, N., Migliavacca, M., Wohlfahrt, G., Šigut, L., Ibrom, A., Papale, D., Göckede, M., Duveiller, G., Knohl, A., Hörtnagl, L., Scott, R. L., Dušek, J., Zhang, W., Hamdi, Z. M., Reichstein, M., Aranda-Barranco, S., Ardö, J., Op de Beeck, M., Billesbach, D., Bowling, D., Bracho, R., Brümmer, C., Camps-Valls, G., Chen, S., Cleverly, J. R., Desai, A., Dong, G., El-Madany, T. S., Euskirchen, E. S., Feigenwinter, I., Galvagno, M., Gerosa, G. A., Gielen, B., Goded, I., Goslee, S., Gough, C. M., Heinesch, B., Ichii, K., Jackowicz-Korczynski, M. A., Klosterhalfen, A., Knox, S., Kobayashi, H., Kohonen, K.-M., Korkiakoski, M., Mammarella, I., Gharun, M., Marzuoli, R., Matamala, R., Metzger, S., Montagnani, L., Nicolini, G., O'Halloran, T., Ourcival, J.-M., Peichl, M., Pendall, E., Ruiz Reverter, B., Roland, M., Sabbatini, S., Sachs, T., Schmidt, M., Schwalm, C. R., Shekhar, A., Silberstein, R., Silveira, M. L., Spano, D., Tagesson, T., Tramontana, G., Trotta, C., Turco, F., Vesala, T., Vincke, C., Vitale, D., Vivoni, E. R., Wang, Y., Woodgate, W., Yepez, E. A., Zhang, J., Zona, D., and Jung, M.: X-BASE: the first terrestrial carbon and water flux products from an extended data-driven scaling framework, FLUXCOM-X, Biogeosciences, 21, 5079–5115, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-5079-2024, 2024.

Botía, S., Munassar, S., Koch, T., Custodio, D., Basso, L. S., Komiya, S., Lavric, J. V., Walter, D., Gloor, M., Martins, G., Naus, S., Koren, G., Luijkx, I. T., Hantson, S., Miller, J. B., Peters, W., Rödenbeck, C., and Gerbig, C.: Combined CO₂ measurement record indicates Amazon forest carbon uptake is offset by savanna carbon release, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6219–6255, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6219-2025, 2025.