PhD Research Fellowship In Ecology

A 3 year position as PhD Research Fellow is available at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Harvesting is often size-dependent (e.g. in fisheries, and trophy hunting in many ungulates), and since many species show sexual dimorphism in body size this may lead to higher harvesting mortality in one sex than the other. Sex-specific differences in harvesting level may also arise from other mechanisms. For instance, in fisheries harvesting often takes place at the spawning grounds where females and males may arrive at different times. In some cases, harvesting or hunting regulations also directly include sex-specific quotas. A different harvesting pressure among sexes can affect the population through an altered sex ratio, and potentially also through induced changes in the life history of one or both sexes. This PhD project will investigate consequences of sex selective harvesting in size- and age-structured populations. One part of the project will be to develop and analyse two-sex demographic models to investigate how harvesting influences key life history characteristics and eco-evolutionary dynamics. The main (but not necessarily only) approach will be integral projection models (IPM), a demographic framework well suited for studying consequences of size-specific harvesting in structured populations. The developed framework will be applied to investigate theoretically the consequences of different harvesting strategies, as well as applied to empirical data from different species across the freshwater, marine and terrestrial domain. Relevant study systems that may be analysed within this project include data for Barents Sea Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), Brown trout (Salmo trutta) from the lake Mjøsa, Norway and moose (Alces alces) in southern Norway.

Eligibility: We kindly ask applicants to provide a numbered list in their application letter corresponding to these criteria, explaining whether and how they meet each point:

• A Master’s degree or equivalent in ecology or a related field relevant to this PhD project, by the starting date in January 2016.
• A background and/or strong interest in one or more of the following topics: i) statistical modeling and analyses, ii) demographic population models such as matrix models or integral projection models, iii) quantitative population models, and iv) conservation biology and management. Experience within one or more of these topics will be considered an advantage, but applicants are not expected to have a deep knowledge covering all of them.
• Personal suitability and motivation for the position.
• A good command of the English language.
• Good collaboration skills and ability to work in an interdisciplinary scientific environment.Academic qualifications (grades and relevant research experience).
• The purpose of the fellowship is research training leading to the successful completion of a PhD degree.
• The fellowship requires admission to the research training programme at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
• A good command of English is required.

Application Procedure: The application must  include:

• Application letter, including a pointwise explanation of how the applicant fits the selection criteria detailed above
• CV (summarizing education, positions and academic work - scientific publications).
• Copies of educational certificates, transcript of records and letters of recommendation.
• Documentation of English proficiency (for applicants from non-EU/EEA countries).
• List of publications and academic work that the applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee.
• Names and contact details of 2-3 references (name, relation to candidate, e-mail and telephone number).