Key words: Community and interaction ecology, metabarcoding, landscape, bioinformatics…
You will be welcomed at IGEPP (INRAE), in the team EGI (Ecologie et Génétique des Insectes https://igepp.rennes.hub.inrae.fr/equipes-de-recherche/egi-ecologie-et-genetique-des-insectes), in collaboration with Elsa Canard (INRAE) and Manuel Plantegenest (Institut Agro Rennes), as part of the Ecophyto II+ IRIS project, « IRIS: Improving Risk Inference by Surveillance of biological regulation services », which includes CIRAD’s PHIM and AGAP (Montpellier) units and INRAE’s IGEPP (Rennes) and BioSP (Avignon) joint research units.
An overview of the IRIS project:
The IRIS project aims to optimise the monitoring of crop diseases and pests and adjust the use of pesticides by exploiting the idea that plant health is enhanced by the density and complexity of the auxiliary communities associated with plants – the phytobiome – which reduce proliferation and emergence through the interactions they have with harmful organisms.
IRIS focuses on a pilot system: citrus crops in Corsica. This emblematic crop, already struggling with established diseases and pests (mealybugs, Mediterranean fruit fly, etc.), is also under threat from the emergence of new health constraints (citric canker, HLB, oriental fruit fly).
IRIS is working on an unprecedented inventory of the composition of the citrus phytobiome and its interpretation in terms of health risks and natural regulation, by producing inventories of multi-range biodiversity (viruses, bacteria, fungi, oomycetes and arthropod pests and predators) in citrus plots on the scale of the agricultural landscape using high-throughput sequencing techniques (viral metagenomics, microbial metabarcoding, food metabarcoding).
–> The main objective of this post-doctoral work is to contribute to the description of interactions between arthropod pests and predators by analysing high-throughput sequencing data produced in the first phase of the project.
Detailed objectives of the Post-Doc project:
This Post-Doc project will focus on the responses of the arthropod food web in clementine orchards to various factors. The study will assess 1) the composition of the natural enemy and prey community, 2) the presence of ants on aphid colonies, 3) the agricultural production system (organic vs. conventional farming), and 4) the landscape around the plot (eg proportion of natural habitat). The aim is to discover what leads an orchard to host high-performance food webs with numerous and consistent pest regulations.
The analyses will be carried out in R with the help of ecological network analysis packages, with the aim of constructing local and general food webs, as well as calculating metrics in order to summarise its functioning.
You will be in charge of:
– Management of previously sequenced data
– Cleaning and demultiplexing the sequences using appropriate pipelines
– Building and graphic representation of the trophic networks observed in the orchards
– Assessing trophic structure metrics and analysing the influence of the factors studied
– Broadcasting results (publications and presentations)
– Participating in the scientific and organisational life of the EGI team
Scientific environment:
The Institut de Génétique Environnement et Protection des Plantes – IGEPP (Institute of Plant Genetics, Environment and Protection) is a mixt research unit (UMR) responding to major societal challenges in agronomy, with the aim of sustainable farming using less fertiliser and pesticides and preserving and taking advantage of biodiversity.
IGEPP brings together experts with complementary theoretical and applied skills from INRAE, the Institut Agro Rennes-Angers and the University of Rennes 1, and trains young people for a range of careers in research and higher education.
IGEPP has five sites located in the west of France, 2 hours from Paris, in the heart of one of Europe’s largest agricultural regions.
INRAE’S LIFE QUALITY
By joining our teams, you benefit from (depending on the type of contract):
– until 30 days of annual leave + 15 days « Reduction of Working Time » (for a full time);
– parenting support: CESU childcare, leisure services;
– skills development systems: training, career advise;
– social support: advice and listening, social assistance and loans;
– holiday and leisure services: holiday vouchers, accommodation at preferential rates;
– sports and cultural activities;
– collective catering.
TRAINING AND SKILLS REQUIRED
Recommended training: PhD
Knowledge required:
– Bioinformatics (analysis of NGS metabarcoding data)
– Geneious software or other sequence analysis tools
– English spoken and written
Appreciated experience:
– Ecology of communities and interactions, Diversity sciences
– Programming
– Genetics
Skills sought:
– Enjoys working in a team, but is able to work independently
– Good written and oral communication skills
Unit: UMR 1349 IGEPP
Postal code + city: 35650 Le Rheu
Duration of the contract: 1 year
Starting date: available from 1st October 2025
Remuneration: 2 815 € brut
How to apply : Send a motivation letter end a CV to Elsa Canard ET Manuel Plantegenest by e-mail: (elsa.canard@inrae.fr; manuel.plantegenest@agrocampus-ouest.fr)
Evaluation of candidatures: start now and continue until post is filled (max September 4th 2025), for a start between October and December depending on the candidate’s wishes.
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