3-year PhD position in Animal Physiology
and Behavioural Ecology with Dr Jean-Patrice Robin and Dr Pierre Bize at the
University of Strasbourg, France
Exploring the
impact and adaptation to social and environmental stress in the king penguin
King
penguins are unique by their biology: they reproduce in an aggressive social
environment and extreme environmental conditions, and parents alternate long
fasting periods on land with intense foraging periods at sea. Furthermore, both
sexes display conspicuous ornaments used in sexual and social contexts. We have
previously demonstrated that king penguins are sensitive to their neighbours:
breeders get stressed when reproducing in socially dense environments and they
rely on the size of their auricular patch to establish social dominance. In
this project, we aim to explore further inter-individual physiological and
behavioural variation in responses to social stress, and in particular to test
whether some individuals are better adapted to cope with social stress, what
make them better adapted to stress and whether individuals can signal their
social competences. Research will be carried on the Sub-Antarctic Island
Crozet, and the applicant should have a keen interest in doing experimental
work in free living birds and to embrace an integrative approach, addressing
changes in states ranging from the cell to the whole organism level. This
project will rely both on newly data collected by the candidate in the field
over up to 2 expeditions in sub-Antarctica and on archived data,
thereby allowing the candidate to start the PhD project without delay and
guarantying results on the project.
For
this PhD project we are seeking somebody who is independent, mobile, creative,
highly motivated, and has interest in animal physiology and behavioural and
evolutionary ecology. Our ideal candidate has previous experience working in
the field (preferentially with birds), likes working in a team, has excellent
written and oral communication skills in English, and is not afraid of
statistics and lab work. Experience with programing in R (or other languages such
as SQML or Matlab) and with lab work is not essential but is a welcome addition;
the willingness to learn such techniques is, however, crucial.
The
successful applicant will be mainly based in the Department of Ecology, Physiology &
Ethology (DEPE) at the University of Strasbourg, France, under the joined
supervision of Dr Jean-Patrice Robin (Strasbourg) and Dr Pierre Bize
(University of Aberdeen, UK). The DEPE is a lively Department where the student
will benefit from interaction with a thriving community of postgraduate
students, postdocs and researchers in animal physiology, marine biology and
behavioural ecology. Furthermore, the student will integrate an international
team working on the French Polar Program ‘ECOENERGY’,
and will thus benefit from the interaction and support of
research partners, namely Vincent Viblanc and Yves Handrich (Strasbourg,
France), Quentin Schull (MARBEC, France), Antoine Stier (Turku Univ., Finland),
Steve Dobson (Auburn Univ, U.S.A.) and Rudy Boonstra (Toronto Univ., Canada).
The student will be encouraged to visit the partners to conduct specific
analysis. The student will participate in the PhD program of the Doctoral
School ED414 of the University of Strasbourg (http://ed.vie-sante.unistra.fr/) providing
additional learning of transferable skills.
Strasbourg is one of
Europe’s most attractive cities. It has a rich historical and architectural
heritage, with Strasbourg's historical city
centre being listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Its human size, its
pedestrian city centre and 500 km of cycling paths make it a very pleasant city
to wander around. Vibrant and affordable, Strasbourg is a true student city
providing a great learning and living environment (Check out the New York
Time's video: 36 Hours
in Strasbourg).
Applications must
include 1) a cover letter outlining why you want to work on this project, 2) a
detailed curriculum vitae, 3) the contact details of two academic referees, and
4) a 1‐page summary of your MSc project or undergraduate work. Please send the
above as a single pdf file to both jean-patrice.robin@iphc.cnrs.fr AND pierre.bize@abdn.ac.uk
Application deadline is 17/06/2018 23:00 - Europe/Brussels; interviews will take on July 13th;
starting date is Sept 17th. The PhD project is fully funded for 3
years by the IDEX program from the University of Strasbourg; monthly salary of
€1769
For more
information, feel free to contact Jean-Patrice Robin or Pierre Bize.
Suggested reading
Schull Q,
Dobson FS, Stier A, Robin J-P, Bize P, Viblanc VA. 2016. Beak color dynamically
signals changes in fasting status and parasite loads in king penguins.
Behavioral Ecology 27:1684-1693
Schull Q, Robin J-P, Dobson FS, Saadaoui H, Viblanc VA, Bize P.
2018. Experimental stress during molt suggests the evolution of
condition-dependent and condition-independent ornaments in the king penguin.
Ecology and Evolution 8(2):1084-1095.
Stier A, Romestaing C, Schull Q, Lefol E, Robin J-P, Roussel D,
Bize P. 2017. How to measure mitochondrial function in birds using red blood
cells: a case study in the king penguin and perspectives in ecology and
evolution. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 8:1172–1182
Viblanc VA, Gineste B, Stier A, Robin J-P, Groscolas R. 2014.
Stress hormones in relation to breeding status and territory location in
colonial king penguin: a role for social density? Oecologia:1-10.
Viblanc VA, Dobson FS, Stier A, Schull Q, Saraux C, Gineste B,
Pardonnet S, Kauffmann M, Robin J-P, Bize P. 2016. Mutually honest? Physiological
‘qualities’ signalled by colour ornaments in monomorphic king penguins.
Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 118:200-214.