lundi 30 juillet 2018

stage 6 mois cognition équine

Offre de stage : études des capacités cognitives équines impliquées dans la relation humain-cheval
 
- thème : éthologie, cognition, chevaux
-  durée : 6 mois à partir de janvier 2019. Le stage sera gratifié.
-      compétences requises : savoir bien manipuler les chevaux, rigueur et patience
-       lieu : INRA de Nouzilly. Le centre de recherche étant situé à l'écart de la ville, un permis de conduire ainsi qu'une voiture sont souhaités.
-      description: le stage a pour objectif d'étudier les capacités cognitives du cheval et plus particulièrement les capacités impliquées dans la relation humain-cheval. L’étudiant réalisera différentes expériences comportementales, afin de déterminer à quel point les chevaux peuvent nous comprendre (compréhension de nos gestes, comportements, etc). Le travail de l'étudiant consistera à réaliser ces différents tests cognitifs et éventuellement à analyser des vidéos au laboratoire par la suite. Les données seront traitées au cours du stage. 


Encadrant :
Léa Lansade, Equipe de Comportement, Neurobiologie et Adaptation, station de Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements, INRA, 37380 Nouzilly


Contact : (merci d'envoyer les candidatures aux deux adresses mail)
lea.lansade@inra.fr
02 47 42 72 79

dimanche 29 juillet 2018

PhD position on the evolution of sexual conflict

PhD Student- The role of ecology in the evolution of sexual conflict
What do we offer? We offer a PhD position starting on September 2018 to January 2019.
To do what? We are looking for a PhD student interested in studying the evolutionary factors modulating the intensity of male-male competition and sexual conflict, and its consequences in terms of population viability. Strong sexual selection can improve population viability and evolvability through a number of processes, such as genic capture. However, strong sexual selection will also often give rise to sexual conflict and female harm, which does not only tend to deviate females from their evolutionary optima, but can drastically affect population viability, leading to a “reproductive tragedy of the commons”. We are still far from understanding what factors modulate the evolution of female harm levels, and sexual conflict at large, and how this feeds back into population viability. Our on-going research aims to contribute to fill these gaps in knowledge by investigating factors potentially modulating the evolution of sexual conflict. This PhD will explore the role of different ecological and demographic factors (e.g. temperature, population density and structure) affect male-male competition levels and the potential for sexual conflict, mainly in Drosophila melanogaster. The research project involves behavioural experiments in the lab, experimental evolution, and considerable fieldwork in Spain, the USA and Australia.
Funding We offer funding for up to 3+ yrs, but applicants will be expected to apply for independent PhD fellowships.
Where? The student will be supervised by Dr. Pau Carazo, and based at the Behaviour and Evolution group of the Ethology Lab, at the Cavanilles institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology (University of Valencia, Spain). For information about our group visit our website (http://paucarazo.com).
Who? We are looking for a motivated, enthusiastic, hard-working candidate with some background (and a strong interest) in sexual selection, and evolutionary biology and animal behaviour at large.
Contact For further information and expressions of interest, please contact Pau Carazo (University of Valencia; pau.carazo@uv.es). The deadline for applications is the 10th September.
 Best wishes,
Pau

Dr. Pau Carazo
Ramón y Cajal Fellow
Instituto Cavanilles of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology
University of Valencia
Tel: +34 963544051


DSTL Animal Behaviour jobs

DSTL are looking for Animal Behaviour Scientists - 3 jobs at 3 different levels:

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/jobs.cgi?jcode=1590389

PhD position (3 years) environmental effects on behaviour and physiology in mice

At the Division of Animal Welfare (Prof. Hanno Würbel), University of Bern, Switzerland, we are seeking a PhD student who is eager to study environmental effects on behaviour and physiology in mice, with an eye to understanding the implications of such plasticity for animal welfare and for the validity of animal research. The project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The successful candidate will be working in a small team together with faculty, two postdocs, and a lab technician and will be able to participate in the training and mentoring of Bachelor and Master students. The PhD project will include experimental studies using laboratory mice to study how pre- and post-natal environmental conditions modulate behaviour, stress, and anxiety. Outcome variables of interest will include behavioural, physiological, and epigenetic measures.
Candidates need a University degree in biology, animal sciences, or biomedical sciences. A background in animal behaviour (basic or applied ethology, behavioural ecology, behavioural neuroscience, or behavioural genetics), experience with laboratory rodents, and training in experimental design and statistics will be a plus.
We offer an attractive academic environment, opportunities to develop the own academic career, and a competitive salary based on the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) scheme.
Please send your application letter together with a motivation statement, your CV, copies of relevant study certificates, and contact details of one or two reference persons (reference letters are not required at this stage) merged into one single pdf-file to: hanno.wuerbel@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.
The deadline for application is August 20, 2018. The position will be available immediately or at your earliest convenience. Please indicate your preferred and earliest possible start date in the application letter. For informal enquiries, please contact Dr. Bernhard Voelkl: bernhard.voelkl@vetsuisse.unibe.ch.

Post-doctoral position to study learning and decision-making in humans

My group is seeking a candidate for a 2-year postdoctoral position. The successful applicant will work in the Human Reinforcement learning team at Département d’Etudes Cognitives (DEC) of the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, under the supervision of Stefano Palminteri.

The Human reinforcement learning team (created in 2017) investigates reward-maximization and punishment-minimization behaviors with an interdisciplinary approach. We are interested in understanding the computational and the neural bases of these behaviors and how impairments in these processes could contribute to the emergence of psychiatric symptoms or macroscopic social phenomena.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gjC0ITsR80cqm-NRh19HaXVIPE-PAAHOekjZA6QattE/edit?usp=sharing

Offre de Thèse Rôle Écologique des Bassins d ’Orage Routiers

Durée : 3 ans ( à partir de fin 2018 ) Encadrant s : Dr. Yves HANDRICH (CNRS) et Dr. Jonathan JUMEAU ( CD67) Profil souhaité : Connaissances naturalistes en herpétologie/entomologie aquatique, anglais Laboratoire d’accueil : IPHC (Département d’Écologie, Physiologie et Éthologie) , Strasbourg Contact s : jonathan.jumeau@bas - rhin.fr et yves - jean.handrich@iphc.cnrs.fr Contexte Les bassins d ’orages routiers sont les bassins de rétention ou de détention présents le long d es linéaires . Ils servent à recueillir les eaux de ruissellement de la chaussée afin d’éviter une pollution accidentelle ou chronique de l’environnement par les polluants présents sur la chaussée et émis par le trafic. Malgré la pollution logiquement présente dans les eaux de ces bassins, ceux - ci sont colonisés par diverses espèces, dont l es amphibiens et l ’ entomofaune . Il est aujourd’hui demandé d’éviter ce phénomène de colonisation des bassins par la faune car les polluants pourraient avoir des effets néfastes sur le développement des individus. Pour cela, des mesures de cloisonnement sont installées auto ur des bassins d’orage. Malgré tout, même dans les bassins les mieux équi pés, on peut constater une certaine biodiversité, ce qui pose la question de l ’ efficacité des mesures de cloisonnement. Cette question a été tranchée lors d ’ une précédente thèse menée dans l ’ équipe : les mesures actuelle s de cloisonnement sont inefficaces. Que fai re - alors ? Inventer des mesures réellement efficaces ou bien arrêter d ’ en mettre et laisser la faune accéder librement aux bassins ? Pour répondre à cette délicate question , aux répercussions importa ntes tant sur le plan écologique (de nouveaux habitats interconnectés ou des puits écologiques trop facilement accessibles ) que financier po ur les gestionnaires de voirie (installation et entretien des mesures) , il faut s ’ intéresser à la viabilité des populations présentes dans les bassins d ’ orage. Et si, après plusieurs décennies de diminution de la population routière, les bassins d ’ orages n ’ étaient plus si pollués que ça ? Cela signifierait qu ’ un nombre important de ces bassins pourrait servir d ’ habitat à une faune dont l ’ habitat (zones humides) reste aujourd ’ hui encore menacé . Entre indices écologiques, malformations et traits d ’ histoires de v ies, tous les outils seront bons pour trancher la question de la thèse : Les bassins d ’ orage routiers sont - ils des sources ou des puits écologiques ? La réponse ne sera probablement pas simple car chaque bassin est unique dans sa conception , dan s le paysage adjace nt et en terme de composition physico - chimique de l ’ ea u. Il Make him happy ! faudra donc quantifier différents paramètres, dont les taux polluants pour pouvoir établir l ’ effet de chaque paramètre. Deux taxons sont ciblés : l es amphibiens ( n otamment le crapaud vert , Bufo tes v iridis , qui servira d ’ espèce modèle pour les analyses les plus te chniques) et l ’ entomofaune des milieux humides. Travail attendu . Le travail de recherche est actuel lement divisé en quatre parties :  C aractérisation de l ’ut ilisation des bassins d ’orage par les amphibiens et l ’entomofaune sur les différents réseaux (RD, RN, autoroutes) : reconnaissance à vue, au chant, captures. B eauc oup de terrain, surtout la nuit ;  Analyse des caractéristiques physiques, physiologiques et traits d ’ histoire de vie d ’ u ne communauté de crapauds verts au regard des différents paramètres des bassins étudiés (dont taux de polluants) ;  Comment améliorer les bassins en tant qu ’ habitats : analyses statistiques en fo nction des données recueillies sur le terrain ;  Comment cloisonner efficacement les bassins, en tant que puits écologiques : test de mesures de cloisonnement en conditions contrôlées. Il est attendu à ce que l ’ étudiant retenu participe à l ’ élaboration des protocoles , en fonction de ses connaissances et de l ’ analyse bibliographique qu ’ il aura à fournir dès le début de la thèse. Il aura également à charge l ’ intégralité des missions de la thèse : gestion du matériel, du c alendrier, logistique terrain, manips sur le terrain, au labo, management des stagiaires , analyses, rédaction ... Il devra aussi travailler de concert avec les gestionnaires de voirie afin d ’ élaborer des recommandations ayant un sens et qui puissent être mises en pratique. Profil recherché Une large partie de ce doctorat s ’ effectue sur le terrain, bottes aux pieds, frontale sur la tête, sandwich dans le sac. Nous recherchons donc quelqu ’ un de fiable sur le terrain, aimant la natur e, peu dérangé par le travail de nuit et autonome, qui s ait se débrouiller en cas d ’ incident sur le terrain (piles mortes, voiture en panne, morsure par un narval des marais ... ) . Le premier jour de terrain, l e candidat devra être capable de reconnaitre l ’ herpetofaune à vue ou au chan t, ainsi qu ’ être cap able de classer l ’ entomofaune selon la méthode qui sera sélectionnée. Il est difficile d ’ imaginer un néophyte naturaliste apprendre à reconnaitre les amphibiens ET l ’ entomofa une avant le début du terrain. Il est donc demandé à ce que le candidat retenu soit à l ’ aise avec au moins l ’ un de ces taxons. Si le caractère appliqué de ce doctorat peut en séduire plus d ’ un, il est importa nt de rappeler qu ’ une thèse reste une épreuve académique pendant laquelle il est atte ndu une production scientifique sous forme d ’ articles scientifiques puis d ’ un mémoire de thèse. Le candidat devra donc être à l ’ aise dans la rédaction en anglais et être rigoureux d ans son approche scientifique . Enfin, des compétences en statistiques ne sont pas particulièrement rech erchées ( ) car le candidat recevra une formation soignée en la matière. Cependant, le candidat devra avoir un certain goût pour la matière c ar les sta tistiques font partie de la vie d ’ un doctorant, au même titre que le terrain

Fully funded PhD in Collective Learning

We have a fully funded interdisciplinary PhD project available, combining robotics and fish behaviour. The PhD project will develop new cooperative control strategies for underwater robots using the principles of self-organisation and collective learning. Information gained from biological experiments on collective learning in fish will be used to refine computational models. The main goal of this project is to discover new bio-inspired learning strategies for multi-agent systems by employing a combination of biological and robotics experiments as well as computer simulations. Deadline 31st July.

PhD studentship available - Universal ecological responses to climate change - impacts on zooplankton


Project Description
Supervisor: Andrew Hirst (University of Liverpool), Angus Atkinson (Plymouth Marine Laboratory), David Atkinson (University of Liverpool),

This fully-funded studentship is available for UK/EU nationals and includes £14,777 per annum maintenance for the successful candidate for 3.5 years, as well as covering the associated University fees. Based within the School of Environmental Sciences at the University of Liverpool, you will work with Profs. Andrew Hirst and David Atkinson (both at the University of Liverpool), and Dr Angus Atkinson (Plymouth Marine Laboratory) on this project.

As our planet warms, profound shifts in species and communities are occurring. Three ‘universal’ ecological responses to warming have been described; namely the redistribution of species in space (often retreating towards the poles and to greater depths in the ocean); shifts in phenology (seasonal timing of life cycle events, e.g. earlier reproduction in spring); and changes in body size (higher temperatures are associated with reductions in body size). Although each of these responses has been measured in a wide array of animal and plant species, they have typically been measured in isolation. This means we have little appreciation of how the three responses interact. Are these responses co-dependent? For example, does a species which strongly shifts its phenology have reduced geographic and body size shifts? Furthermore, the implications of the three universal climate change responses are poorly known. For example, phenology shifts can differ between trophic levels, potentially leading to a mismatch in the seasonal timing of zooplankton and their food. Our incomplete knowledge of the climate change responses of zooplankton is severely limiting our ability to predict future changes in marine ecosystems.

Marine ectotherms, including plankton and fish, have been shown to be undergoing rapid changes to climate warming over recent decades, with zooplankton described as “sentinels of climate change”. These organisms are typically fast growing and their free dispersal within the ocean means that they can colonise new areas across large distances. Zooplankton are also critical to ocean functions, major grazers on the algal primary producers, and a key conduit of energy to higher tropic levels, including commercially important fish and marine mammals. These attributes make zooplankton ideal candidates to examine climate-related change, and are a group that must be understood given their socio-economic relevance.

This PhD will utilise existing long-term collections of zooplankton, spanning a wide geographic range, as well as giving the successful candidate the opportunity to collect your own data through the analysis of samples from across Europe. Experimental work can also be an important part of the planned work. The successful candidate will quantify major responses of a wide range of zooplankton species to climate warming, develop methods to compare these different responses, and determine their interactions. This PhD work will lead to an improved ability to understand and predict future climate change responses of marine plankton.

Candidates should ideally have a BSc degree or Masters in a related discipline (e.g. zoology, marine biology, biological sciences), with strong interests in ecology and / or eco-physiology. Ideally you will have some mathematical skills and a knowledge of R, although full training on all aspects of the project will be provided. The supervisors have a strong track-record in working collaboratively together over many years, and have published and successfully co-supervised many students. Our ethos is to grow the skills of the PhD students we work with, in a co-operative and encouraging environment, providing the expertise needed for a research career.

Informal enquiries can be made to Prof Andrew Hirst (email:
Aghirst@liverpool.ac.uk). Also see: www.aquatic-ecology.co.uk. This PhD studentship has an intended start date of 1st Oct 2018. The application deadline is 15th August 2018, and applications can be made via the websites:


Relevant References
Atkinson AHarmer RAWiddicombe CEMcEvoy AJSmyth TJCummings DGSomerfield PJMaud JLMcConville K (2015) Questioning the role of phenology shifts and trophic mismatching in a planktonic food webProgress in Oceanography 137: 498-512. 10.1016/j.pocean.2015.04.023
Edwards M, Richardson AJ (2004) Impact of climate change on marine pelagic phenology and trophic mismatch. Nature 430: 881–884
Forster J, Hirst AG, Atkinson D (2012) Warming-induced reductions in body size are greater in aquatic than terrestrial species. PNAS 109: 19310-19314. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1210460109
Horne CR, Hirst AG, Atkinson D, Neves A, Kiørboe T (2016) A global synthesis of seasonal temperature-size responses in copepods. Global Ecology and Biogeography 25: 988-999. DOI: 10.1111/geb.12460
Richardson AJ (2008) In hot water: zooplankton and climate change. ICES Journal of Marine Science 65: 279–295. https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsn028

Fully funded PhD in animal social behaviour

A fully funded 3-year PhD position available in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
Project Title:   An integrative approach to understanding conflict management in the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish, Neolamprologus pulcher
Supervisory Team: Dr. Adam Reddon; Dr. Hazel Nichols; Dr. Will Swaney
Deadline: August 10th, 2018
Project Description: This is a call for applications for a three-year fully funded PhD studentship in the School of Natural Sciences and Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University.
Group living provides substantial advantages but may also engender conflict over reproduction or other resources. In order for groups to form and persist, animals must be able to manage this conflict. Across species, complex sociality involves an interplay between dominance hierarchies, aggression, submission, cooperation, and kinship. Understanding these dynamics is a major focus in social behaviour research. Much of the work done so far has examined primates and other mammals, however, conducting carefully controlled experiments in these species is often difficult. The cooperatively breeding cichlid fish, Neolamprologus pulcher, lives and breeds in highly complex permanent social groups. N. pulcher are small bodied and can easily be housed in aquaria where these remarkable fish will perform their full suite of social behaviour.
In order to understand the expression of conflict management behaviour we must understand both the functional significance of these actions and the mechanistic substrates that underpin them. Oxytocin is well known for its role in mediating social behaviour in mammalian species including primates, but evidence is emerging that this function is deeply conserved across vertebrates, and that its homologue isotocin regulates social behaviour in fishes. This PhD project will examine the phenotypic expression of conflict management behaviours in N. pulcher, the role of isotocin in modulating those behaviours, and the importance of early life experiences in organising adult social behaviour and its neurohormonal substrates.
We will make use of a newly established breeding colony at LJMU. Social behaviours can be scored within these groups using both live observations and high definition video recordings. The specific details of the project are flexible and can be developed in collaboration with the successful candidate to align with his or her interests, skills and expertise. The project will be primarily laboratory based, though some field work may also be possible.
Preferred candidate characteristics include a keen interest in animal social behaviour; experience studying behaviour in the laboratory and/or the field; experience with neuroscience and/or molecular biology techniques (e.g., histology, immunohistochemistry, qPCR); strong writing and analytical skills; knowledge of experimental design and statistical analysis. Previous experience working with fish is desirable but not essential. Full training will be provided, and the successful candidate will benefit from the diverse expertise of the supervisory team.
The preferred start date for the successful candidate will be September 2018, but a January 2019 start is also possible.
The scheme is available to UK/European Union students with a Bachelors degree at 2:1 or above in a relevant area, and good spoken and written English skills. Applicants with Masters level qualifications are preferred. We expect to interview applicants in Mid-August. If you require further information please email Dr. Adam Reddon, a.r.reddon@ljmu.ac.uk
Funding Notes: The studentship is fully funded by LJMU. Funding will consist of a stipend at UK Research Council rates (e.g. £14,777 in year 1) and full tuition waiver for three years. Funding will be subject to satisfactory progress. Only UK & EU citizens are eligible for this studentship.
Application: Applicants should email a CV, cover letter detailing their interest in and suitability for the project and contact details of two referees to Dr. Adam Reddon (a.r.reddon@ljmu.ac.uk). Interviews will be held in mid-August. For an informal discussion about this opportunity please email Dr. Adam Reddon (a.r.reddon@ljmu.ac.uk) for more information.

Research assistants required to assist with behavioural research on Ugandan Infants on project “A Cross Cultural Investigation into Joint Attention and Infant Development”


We are conducting a long term research study comparing the development of Joint attention in Ugandan and British humans. We are looking for five volunteer research assistants to help with our project in Uganda.
We visit mother and infant participants regularly throughout the infant’s first two years of life. We have a PhD student who will be based in Uganda throughout most of 2019 and the research assistants would work closely with this individual.
Background and aims of the project
Humans frequently coordinate and share attention about objects and events. Our basic ability to engage in joint attention (JA) is thought to underpin our uniquely complex cooperation skills and language, raising the possibility that the emergence of JA was a ‘small change that made a big difference’ in the evolution of human cognition. Despite the theoretical importance of JA for understanding human social cognition, we know surprisingly little about JA across cultures. 

This project will collect longitudinal data on mother-infant dyads over the first 2 years of the infant’s life, across four different study groups: Ugandan and British humans; wild chimpanzees and wild crested macaque monkeys. Data from the two human groups will test how different elements of JA are related and whether JA develops in a uniform way across cultures. Longitudinal data on mother-infant interactions and the infant’s environment will be compared to performance on JA tasks across all four groups, enabling us to identify conditions that are likely necessary for JA to emerge. Performance on JA and cooperative tasks will be compared to assess whether engagement in JA predicts the later emergence of cooperation.

Research assistant positions
We are looking to fill five research assistant positions, each three months in duration:
-        January – March 2019
-        April – June 2019
-        July – September 2019
-        October – December 2019
-        December 2019 – February 2020
You will be working alongside PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, and with local Field Assistants (FAs) to ensure data collection can continue across gaps when no PhD student/postdoc can be on-site, and when the volume of data to be collected is particularly high.
You would receive full training in York before leaving – you’d undertake a risk assessment, be given fieldwork first aid materials to study and learn the experimental protocols (studying documents and videos and seeing these in action with the UK sample), so you would need to commit to being in York for 3-4 days sometime in the month or so before leaving for Uganda.
You would be based at the Budongo Conservation Field Station (http://www.budongo.org/), which is one of only a handful of long-term wild chimpanzee study sites in the world. You would be living with other researchers (mainly chimp /primate researchers) in basic accommodation (wooden house), with filtered rain water for drinking and limited solar power in a clearing in the middle of the rainforest. Dinner is provided by local cooks (mainly beans, vegetables, and rice or potatoes) and you need to have a communal spirit to live and work well alongside the other researchers. Toilets are long drops, a short walk from the main houses. There are also showers which are heated once a day and views of the forest from your bedroom! There is a weekly trip to Masindi, a town about 45 minutes drive away where a Western meal can be obtained, although you likely would not be able to go every week if you have meetings scheduled in the villages. For wildlife lovers, although your research would be with the people in nearby villages, it is highly likely you’d get to see the chimps (who often come through camp) and have time to watch the numerous monkey and bird species that live in the forest.
The FAs are fluent in the local languages and are familiar with Ugandan culture. They are responsible for organising meetings with mothers, and collect longitudinal data that cannot be collected by foreign researchers. At least one local FA will always accompany on your visits to participants in the villages – they will act as translators between you and the participants, and assist with running of experiments.
Your responsibilities will include:
-        Learning the protocols for multiple experiments (before leaving the UK), and working with the FAs to ensure they are conducted correctly
-        Running of experimental tasks and questionnaires with participants in the villages
-        Management of FAs, including organisation of weekly plans for them
-        Responsibility for ensuring data is collected at the correct time-points for the participants you are assigned
-        Entering data collected by hand into excel
-        Ensuring all data (video footage; paper sheets; excel sheets) is accurately labelled and backed up in accordance with our data management plan.
-        Coding of video data

Requirements
Essential:
-        Evidence of working effectively in a team
-        Good physical health (you will be required to cycle to, and from, local villages – 1.5-4 miles away in 30-35 degree heat)
-        Cultural sensitivity
-        Experience of living in basic conditions
-        Good understanding of how to run experiments rigorously
Desirable
-        Experience in third world conditions and/or fieldwork experience in remote conditions
-        Experience interacting with young infants (aged 6-24months) or conducting infant/child research



Funding
Although this is a voluntary position, in that you will not receive a salary, many of the costs associated with your visit will be covered by my funding. I will provide the return UK-Uganda flight, travel in-country to the field-site, insurance, research costs (equipment; research fees). This means that you would need to find the money for innoculations, anti-malarials, personal equipment (e.g. clothing / first aid kit), accommodation (~£250/month) and food (~£8-£10/week).

Applications
If you are interested in applying for one of these positions, please email Katie Slocombe (Katie.slocombe@york.ac.uk) the following documents:
1.      CV
2.      Cover letter indicating how you meet the requirements for the position
If you want to chat informally about the positions before applying then please also get in contact with Kati (Katie.slocombe@york.ac.uk)