Research Ecologist​/Aquatic

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is hiring two Research Ecologists (Aquatic) to support the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station. Positions are available in specific locations including Rhinelander, WI and several other locations in the eastern U.S. The role involves researching ecosystem responses to change, collaborating with scientists, obtaining funding, and presenting research findings. This is not a remote position.
Position: Research Ecologist (Aquatic)

These two (2) Research Ecologist positions support the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station . One is located in Rhinelander WI and one in locations negotiable among the following locations:
Parsons, WV;
Columbia, MO;
Baltimore, MD;
Durham, NH;
Amherst MA.

This is not a remote position.

For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact:
Rhinelander WI:
Deahn Donner Wright nerwright
Locations Negotiable:

Keith Nislow low

Duties
• Use ecosystem processes to predict how urban and rural ecosystems will respond to change and quantify the impact of change on ecosystem services and values.
• Collaborate with scientists to integrate biology/ecology with landscape ecology discipline and a range of social science disciplines including planning, geography, and sociology.
• Seek and obtain funding from outside sources to fund scientific research.
• Present results from research studies to other scientists, land managers, public agencies, and the general public
• Conduct scientific research on aquatic ecology and management along urban to rural landscape gradients; urban-dominated landscapes include mosaic of land uses in and around the country's largest cities.
• Develop research to understand how sociological and ecological factors interact to affect patterns, processes, and functions of aquatic ecosystems within heterogeneous landscapes.
• Plan and conduct research that informs the wide range of aquatic habitat restoration actions and approaches currently being employed in urban and rural gradients.
• Determine how aquatic and riparian ecosystems across urban and rural landscapes will respond to change and quantify the impact of change on ecosystem services and values.
Requirements
• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt.
• Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check.
• Completion of a 3-year probationary period required in accordance with the USDA Demonstration Project Authority. During this time, employee?s conduct and performance will be monitored to determine if employee will be retained.
• Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution.
• Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify.
Qualifications
To qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards.

Work Experience
:
Your resume must clearly document the following for each block of work experience; the beginning month and year the work assignment started and ended; the hours worked per week; position title, and series and grade if applicable; and description of duties performed. This information must be provided for each permanent, temporary or seasonal appointment/work assignment or volunteer work and should be clearly documented as a separate block of time.

Incomplete, inaccurate or conflicting work history may not be credited for qualifications purposes. This can result in an applicant not being considered for the position.

Basic Requirement for the Ecology Series (0408):
Degree: biology, or a related field of science underlying ecological research that included at least 30 semester hours in basic and applied biological sciences. These hours must have included at least 9 semester hours in ecology, and 12 semester hours in physical and mathematical sciences.

In addition to meeting the basic requirement, you must also possess experience and/or directly related education in the amounts listed below.

Specialized Experience Requirement:
For the GS-11:
One year of specialized experience at or equivalent to the next lower grade level (GS-9). Specialized experience at this level is defined as:
• Conducting the full cycle of scientific research with defined objectives, limited in scope to investigating specific phenomena or problems, or are segments of related investigations. Research at this level requires fairly conventional techniques and involves applying existing theory or methods to areas previously investigated, but under different conditions, or involves adapting previous studies in light of changes in theory or improved techniques and instrumentation and result in contributions that add to scientific and professional knowledge or support developing new or improved methods and techniques.

This research must have been in one or more of the following areas:
1) Quantifying how sociological and ecological factors interact to affect patterns, processes, and functions of aquatic ecosystems across urban to rural environments,
2) Quantify changes in aquatic ecosystems in response to climate change across urban to rural environments,
3) quantify aquatic…