Letter of Intent: I would be thankful to those who can help me to improve my letter of intent for the PhD.

April 12, 2011
Kathmandu, Nepal
To,
The Department of xxxxx and Natural Resource Management,
The xxxxx University of xxxx,
Dear Sir/Madam,
With respect to the opportunity posted on xxxxxx, I would like to apply for the PhD position entitled 'xxxxx' (ref. no: xxxxx). I completed master degree in Botany with first division and Biodiversity and Environmental Management with distinction respectively in 2005 and 2010 from the xxxxx University, Nepal.
I have been studying plant ecology and taxonomy since my undergraduate studies. In addition, plant physiology, palaeobotany, biochemistry, biotechnology, biodiversity and environment were the major subjects I had studied before I went to graduate school. My theoretical background in plant ecology and taxonomy was founded during master's level studies in botany (first year course). I studied plant systematics and evolution as well as phytogeography and biosystematics during final year of master's level studies. The former familiarized me the herbarium preparation and species identification techniques and the latter familiarized me the world flora. During practical courses, I prepared a local flora as well as independently identified eight species of Swertia (Gentianaceae) of Nepal. I systematically arranged those species on the basis of morphological, anatomical and floral characters. Frequent field visit for practical courses familiarized me with different plant communities along natural gradients, which in turn, attracted me towards community ecology and ultimately trailed my master project in the same field. I studied vascular plant species distribution along an elevation gradient from 3800-4600 m in semiarid central Himalaya. I also emphasized how species composition changes along the elevation gradient. Further, natural gradients, for example, treeline ecotone, surface soil moisture, relative radiation index, grazing intensity and pH were considered to understand the mechanism of species distribution. In addition, I described all the species i.e. 94 flowering plants taxa recorded during this study.
Following this degree, I worked as a research assistant and prepared herbarium specimens, identified and described eleven species of Swertia (Gentianaceae) collected from 1500-5000 m elevation zones of central Nepal. Subsequent to this project, I got opportunity to study master degree in Biodiversity and Environmental Management as a xxxx scholar. The first semester familiarized me the advance theory of biodiversity and biogeography, conservation biology, mountain environment and human ecology, and environment and natural resource management and during second semester, I studied qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis, report writing, and palaeoecology from the University of xxx, xxxx. As a master project, I studied species density along the elevational gradient from 3000-4700 m of semiarid zones of central Nepal with particular emphasis on local-regional richness pattern. The diversity parameters were further modeled along soil moisture, pH, relative radiation index, and grazing intensity. After this recent degree, I taught research design, sampling design, data collection and basics of data analysis for students of master degree in botany as well as conducted practical classes of master degree in biodiversity and environmental management. I managed to submit manuscript of recent master project to the peer reviewed journal Plant xxxxx and xxxxx. Unfortunately, reviewers raised some issues and I was asked to resubmit the manuscript. Accordingly, I am rewriting the manuscript these days. Currently, I am working as a project manager in a Jatropha biodiesel project in Nepal which emphasizes the use of clean energy as a means to mitigate climate change impact.
On the basis of my past academic and field experiences, I believe that mountain ecosystems are highly vulnerable to climate change as higher magnitude of change has been experienced towards the arctic/alpine region. This change, ultimately, is expected to sensitize low lying species to migrate upward for hunting suitable habitat zones to cope with changing climate. However, each species can not adapt to the harsh climatic conditions of alpine mountains. In addition, inhabitable area decreases along the elevation gradient which forces species for over competition. Thus, alpine plants, especially those which inhabit the alpine mountains like xxxx, might experience greater threat from climate change in terms of both climatic and biotic stochasticity. At the mean time, we can not overlook the strategic strength of biotic interaction, exemplified by Ginkgoales and others, to cope with altered environment. Thus, I believe that study of biotic interaction within and across trophic levels in light to climate change will be instrumental on understanding the biological consequences of climate change, which in turn, help to develop science based policy for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation. I envisage climate change studies as a vibrant field and interested to develop my professional carrier in the similar field. Further, as UMB is renowned for its high quality research within environment- and biosciences, I believe that PhD studies offered by it blends high quality course work as well as research trainings which will help boost my professional carrier as an independent and versatile researcher.
Based on my academic qualification and relevant fieldwork as well as research experiences, I believe myself as a potential candidate for the PhD position offered. I would like to assure you that I will make full effort to materialize this opportunity to boost my own carrier as well as intellectual integrity of research group of your institution.
My resume, publication list and academic credentials are enclosed for your evaluation. I heartily welcome your queries for further clarification. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,

xxxxxx