Laboratory:
Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé CEBC CNRS, 79360, Villiers-en-Bois (www.cebc.cnrs.fr)
Team AGRIPOP (www.agripopchize.fr)
Responsible:
Vincent Bretagnolle
Tel: 05 49 09 78 17
Email: breta@cebc.cnrs.fr
The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, laboratory of Chizé, France, is recruiting a post-doctoral scientist in spatial ecology. Funding for this position is for 2 years (one year renewable), possibly prolonged, and salary is about 2500 euros per month (“salaire net”). Post doc is expected to start on 1 march. The funds come from the Agence des Aires Marines Protégées, and the program is a joint program with Université de la Rochelle (Pr. Vincent Ridoux).
The post-doc will work with Vincent Bretagnolle (CEBC CNRS), Pascal Monestiez (INRA Avignon/CEBC CNRS), Joel Chadoeuf (INRA Avignon) and Grégoire Certain (Institute of Marine Research, Norway) to model spatio-temporal dynamic species-habitat relationships in the marine environment. The designation of marine or pelagic Special Protection Areas (NATURA 2000) raises particular methodological challenges in relation to the terrestrial environment, mainly because of changing oceanographic conditions and the absence of physical barriers. Since 2000, but particularly in 2011-2012, aerial counts of seabirds and cetaceans have been carried out off french costs (atlantic, channel and mediterranean). A total of over 120 000 sightings of seabirds are available in the current data set. The 2012 campaign includes two seasonal replicates in winter and summer (ie, a total of 4 replicates are available), for a total of around 1000 hours of aerial linear transects. This is probably one the largest data set ever collected on seabirds at sea (around 40 seabird species).
The post doc will analyse these data in order:
-to better understand biotic and abiotic factors that govern the distribution of birds at sea
-to derive designation of NATURA 2000 pelagic sites
The post-doc will be expected to write several (baseline, 6) scientific papers in international ecology/conservation Journals, present results of research to conferences and other partners, and participate in report writing. Applicants should possess strong skills in the R programming language, a strong knowledge of spatial statistics (especially geo statistics), an understanding of Bayesian statistics, and an experience in publishing in peer-reviewed journals. Experience in modeling wildlife populations, species habitat relationships are highly
desirable. Interest and experience with either seabirds and marine ecology will be preferred, but are not a necessary condition for this position. The position is available as soon as a suitable candidate is found. The appointee will be located at Chizé station.
To apply, please send a cover letter, curriculum vitae via e-mail to Vincent Bretagnolle
See papers
1. BRETAGNOLLE, V., CERTAIN, G., HOUTE, S., & METAIS, M. 2004. First distribution maps and abundance estimates for wintering auks in the Bay of Biscay. J. Aquatic Living Resources 17: 353-360.
2. CERTAIN, G.*, BELLIER, E., PLANQUE, B. & BRETAGNOLLE, V. 2007. Characterising the temporal variability of the spatial distribution of animals: an application to seabirds at sea. Ecography 30: 695-708 (IF 4.099).
3. BARTUMEUS F., GIUGGIOLI L., LOUZAO M., BRETAGNOLLE V., ORO D., LEVIN S.A. Fishery discards impact on seabird movement patterns at regional scales. Current Biology. 2010, 20, 215-222
4. BELLIER E., CERTAIN G., PLANQUE B., MONESTIEZ P., BRETAGNOLLE V. Modelling habitat selection at multiple scales with multivariate geostatistics: an application to seabirds in open sea. Oikos. 2010, 119, 988-999
5. CERTAIN G., BRETAGNOLLE V. Monitoring seabirds population in marine ecosystem: the use of strip-transect aerial surveys. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2008, 112, 3314-332
6. CERTAIN G., RIDOUX V., VAN CANNEYT O., BRETAGNOLLE V. Delphinid spatial distribution and abundance estimates over the shelf of the Bay of Biscay. ICES Journal of Marine Science. 2008, 65, (4), 656-666