The French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and the Environment (INRAE) is a public research establishment. It is a community of 12,000 people with more than 200 research units and 42 experimental units located throughout France. The institute is among the world leaders in agricultural and food sciences, in plant and animal sciences, and is 11th in the world in ecology and environment. INRAE’s main goal is to be a key player in the transitions necessary to address major global challenges. In the face of the increase in population, climate change, scarcity of resources and decline in biodiversity, the institute develops solutions for multiperformance agriculture, high quality food and sustainable management of resources and ecosystems.
Work environment, missions and activities
You will work in the UMR 1065 Santé et Agroécologie du Vignoble (SAVE). SAVE’s mission is to produce knowledge and develop tools to achieve low-input management of vine diseases and pests. The work of the unit is based on complementary expertise in ecology, epidemiology, plant pathology and entomology. The finalized stakes of the research are: (i) the agroecological transition and the exit of the pesticides in viticulture, (ii) the management of vine decline and (iii) the monitoring of the emergences of vine bioagressors. Your missions will be carried out in the “Vineyard decline” team which works on the understanding of the mechanisms underlying vine decline, in particular caused by trunk diseases in relation with climatic factors.
Context :
The role of climate in vine decline and in the re-emergence of trunk diseases is still an unexplored field of research despite its importance in understanding this sanitary crisis and thus predicting and anticipating the risk of decline in different terroirs. The CLIMESCA project proposes to open up this field of research by creating a database containing multi-year (2003-2021) monitoring of trunk disease symptoms and mortality collected in seven French wine regions, plot characteristics, and corresponding spatialized climatic data.
A statistical analysis of this integrated database will be carried out in order to identify and then predict the climatic risk factors that explain the epidemic evolutions between grape varieties and French viticultural regions, while taking into account the interactions between climatic factors and plot factors. The aim of the project will be to produce dashboards and maps of the incidence of trunk diseases (in particular esca), its future evolution, as well as climatic and plot risk factors for the National Observatory of Vineyard Health. This project, carried out within the framework of the “Plateforme d’Épidémiosurveillance Santé Végétale”, will participate in the development of a process for the collection, formatting and analysis of “trunk diseases datasets” on a national scale.
Objectives and work program of the post-doctoral fellow
– You will be in charge of modeling the dynamics of esca as a function of abiotic (mainly climatic) and biotic (mainly agronomic – grape varieties, terroirs) factors. Within the framework of the project, databases of grapevine trunk disease symptoms for more than 9000 plot/year pairs have been collected from regional partners. Thanks to these databases and to the associated climatic data (SAFRAN grids and weather stations), your work will consist in identifying, by mobilizing essentially statistical modeling approaches, the effects of climate and plot variables on the spatio-temporal variation of the occurrence of trunk diseases (in particular esca, which has the highest occurrence in France) and of dieback (mortality). The developments will be based on preliminary works carried out in our team using a set of linear mixed models. The climatic factors associated with dieback (trunk diseases and mortality) will thus be identified and associated with each viticultural region.
Finally, spatialized simulations on a regional scale will be carried out using future climate predictions to propose risk maps of dieback in the various wine-growing basins according to the plot characteristics of interest (age, grape variety, soil type, AOC). The spatialization of the simulation outputs will allow the elaboration of dynamic maps and dashboards of the epidemiological risk and its factors for the stakeholders.
The person recruited will join a multidisciplinary team of biologists, epidemiologists, environmental geographers, modelers and geomaticians (UMR SAVE, UR BioSP, UMR LETG) grouped together in the CLIMESCA project financed by the Plan National Dépérissement du Vignoble. She/he will take an active part in workshops for the implementation of good practices for formatting data of grapevine dieback monitoring and in the restitution of results to professionals. She/he will be in charge of the scientific valorization of the results and may be involved in the production of dynamic visuals (the project includes a dedicated action to make data and results available to the Observatory of Vineyard Health).
Training and skills:
– Recommended training: PhD in ecology / epidemiology / statistical modeling
– Knowledge required: Strong knowledge in data analysis and statistical modeling. The candidate should have
programming skills (R, Python). Knowledge of database manipulation, spatial data processing and the desire
to confront theoretical approaches with the constraints of field actors will be appreciated.
– Skills sought: Proven skills in writing scientific publications, enthusiasm and team player attitude.
INRAE’s life quality
By joining our teams, you benefit from (depending on the type of contract and its duration):
– up to 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.
How to apply:
I send my CV and my motivation letter to: chloé.delmas@inrae.fr
DELMAS Chloé
Offer reference
- Contract: Postdoctoral position
- Duration: 18 months
- Beginning: 05/10/2022
- Remuneration: gross salary between 2516,40€ and 2938,14€ per month, adjustable according to the candidate’s experience
- Reference: OT-15045
- Dealine: 31/08/2022