Subject: Effect of cumulative early-life adversities on fitness in the Asian elephant (Elephas
maximus)
Extensive research across field have shown that early-life adversity (ELA), and the cumulative
effect of encountering multiple sources of adversity during childhood affects individuals’
health, fertility and longevity in the long-term. Although the detrimental consequences of ELA have been widely reported in both humans and wild animals, studies have often been biased toward the philopatric sex, and recent studies suggest that some species may show more resilience than others to ELA. Using an extensive longitudinal dataset on both males and females in Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), a species which, like humans, show great longevity and exhibit post-reproductive lifespan, the student will investigate the individual and cumulative effects of several putative sources of ELA on survival.
Internship
This project will take place at the University of Turku, Finland, within the Myanmar Timber Elephant Project lead by Prof Virpi Lummaa. For this project, you will be supervised by Dr Axelle Delaunay, Dr Hansraj Gautam and Prof Virpi Lummaa. The Myanmar Timber Elephant Project is a multi-disciplinary and international research group, investigating the evolution, ecology and behaviour of a semi-captive population of timber elephants in Myanmar (https://elephant-project.science/).
Preferable start, beginning of 2025 but the dates are flexible.
Note: there is no financial help provided from our research group but you can ask for Erasmus grants and mobility grants (see the modalities with your university).
Requirements
We are looking for a motivated Master’s student who is interested in evolutionary biology and behavioural ecology and who is willing to learn more about early-life effects in a long-lived mammal. This project would require knowledge of statistical analyses and previous experience with R software, since this project contains a substantial part of analyses on R. Please, send a CV and a cover letter (1 page max) before the Deadline November 15th 2024. Interviews will be held the following weeks.
Contact: Dr Axelle Delaunay, axelle.delaunay@utu.fi and Dr Hansraj Gautam ,
hansraj.gautam@utu.fi, Department of biology, University of Turku (FINLAND)