Ph.D. opportunity in behavioral biology of rainforest frogs

 Position details: The candidate will be supervised by Dr. Andrius Pašukonis and Dr. Bibiana Rojas at the
Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria. Additional research
visits are planned to Vilnius University, Lithuania and Laboratoire Ecologie, Evolution, Interaction des
Systèmes Amazoniens, French Guiana. The position is fully funded including salary, research and travel
expenses for 3.5 years. Position starting in October 2024.
Application requirements and procedures: M.Sc. degree in biological sciences and related field or an
equivalent degree. Full proficiency in written and spoken English, statistical computing skills, strong interest
in and experience with field research and animal behavior. Physical and mental preparedness for intensive
fieldwork and basic living conditions of tropical field research. Additional qualifications in the following areas
will be also highly valued: scientific publishing and conference presentations, advanced computational
skills, animal movement and behavioral analyses, experience in bioacoustics, chemical, and/or sensory
ecology, chemical analyses, experience in tropical fieldwork. The application should be sent to
andrius.pasukonis@gmc.vu.lt no later than July 31st and should include a CV (no photo), the contact
details of two referees who can provide recommendation letters, and a motivation letter written by the
applicant stating their research interests and experiences. Interviews will be held online at the end of
August.
Project summary: Rainforests are among the world's most complex sensory landscapes, yet animals
thrive in this environment and excel at navigating in search of scattered and ephemeral resources. Among
the most impressive examples are poison frogs (Dendrobatoidea), which accurately navigate between
home territories and small breeding pools scattered from the forest floor to the canopy. The goal of the
project is to reveal the cognitive and sensory strategies rainforest frogs use to discover and evaluate
breeding pools, and to navigate between them. The candidate will design and carry out behavioral
experiments to test the role of sound, smell, and spatial memory in the water-finding and navigation abilities
of two species of dendrobatid frogs in their natural habitat. The project will involve, among others, several
months of intensive fieldwork in French Guiana, behavioral experiments in captivity, movement tracking,
acoustic playbacks, video recordings, and chemical analyses.
Main research field: behavioral biology, animal navigation, spatial cognition, sensory ecology.
References
Pašukonis, A., Serrano-Rojas, S. J., Fischer, M.-T., Loretto, M.-C., Shaykevich, D. A., Rojas, B., Ringler,
M., Roland, A., Marcillo, A., Ringler, E., Rodriguez, C., Coloma, L. A., & O’Connell, L. (2022).
Contrasting parental roles shape sex differences in poison frog space use but not navigational
performance. eLife, 11, e80483.
Serrano-Rojas, S. J., & Pašukonis, A. (2021). Tadpole-transporting frogs use stagnant water odor to find
pools in the rainforest. Journal of Experimental Biology, 224(21).
Fouilloux, C. A., Serrano-Rojas, S. J., Carvajal-Castro, J. D., Valkonen, J. K., Gaucher, P., Fischer, M.-T.,
Pašukonis, A., & Rojas, B. (2021). Pool choice in a vertical landscape: Tadpole rearing site flexibility in
phytotelm-breeding frogs. Ecology and Evolution, 11(13).
Pašukonis, A., Loretto, M.-C., & Rojas, B. (2019). How far do tadpoles travel in the rainforest? Parent-
assisted dispersal in poison frogs. Evolutionary Ecology, 33(4).
Pašukonis, A., Trenkwalder, K., Ringler, M., Ringler, E., Mangione, R., Steininger, J., Warrington, I., & Hödl,
W. (2016). The significance of spatial memory for water finding in a tadpole-transporting frog. Animal
Behaviour, 116.