Nature-based solutions (NbS) such as infiltration swales are increasingly implemented to manage urban stormwater and improve water quality. While their performance is traditionally assessed through soil physical and chemical properties, growing evidence shows that soil microbiomes play a fundamental role in ecosystem functioning and the delivery of ecosystem services (Fierer et al., 2022; Singh et al., 2022). However, the ecological processes structuring microbial communities in engineered ecosystems remain poorly understood, limiting our ability to predict and optimize NbS performance (Bender et al., 2022).
This internship aims to identify the environmental and vegetation-related drivers shaping bacterial and fungal communities in stormwater infiltration swales located in France and Sweden. The project will combine microbial ecology, molecular biology, bioinformatics, and ecological statistics to better understand how vegetation and local environmental conditions influence microbial community assembly across sites.
Main tasks
DNA extraction, PCR amplification, and preparation of sequencing libraries;
Bioinformatic processing and analysis of metabarcoding datasets;
Statistical analyses linking microbial communities, vegetation, soil properties, and environmental variables;
Participation in the interpretation and communication of scientific results.
Candidate profile MSc student or final-year engineering student in microbiology, microbial ecology, environmental genomics, ecology, or environmental sciences. Interest in molecular techniques, bioinformatics, and quantitative ecology is highly desirable.
Location: LEHNA (Laboratory of Ecology of Natural and Anthropized Hydrosystems), ENTPE, Lyon area, France
Duration: 6 months
Starting date: No later than mid-January 2027
Application: CV and cover letter to be sent before 30 November 2026.
Working environment: The supervisory team is predominantly French-speaking. However, English is the working language of the BIORESTORM project (european funding), and all consortium meetings, presentations, and scientific exchanges are conducted in English with partners from Canada, Estonia, Sweden, and France. Candidates should therefore be comfortable communicating in English.
References:
Fierer, N., Emmett Duffy, J., Winfree, R., & collaborators. (2022). Harnessing the microbiome to prevent global biodiversity loss. Nature Microbiology, 7(12), 1726–1735. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01247-4
Singh, B. K., Trivedi, P., Egidi, E., Macdonald, C. A., Delgado-Baquerizo, M., & Bardgett, R. D. (2022). Defending Earth’s terrestrial microbiome. Nature Microbiology, 7(8), 1160–1163. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-022-01195-z
Bender, S. F., Wagg, C., & Van der Heijden, M. G. A. (2022). An underground revolution: Biodiversity and soil ecological engineering for agricultural sustainability. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 3(10), 656–667. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00358-2
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