mardi 11 septembre 2018

Doctorat et Maîtrise : écologie comportementale et cognitive Mésanges - U. Ottawa, Ontario

voici une annonce pour des projets de maîtrise ou de doctorat en écologie comportementale et cognitive des Mésanges à tête noire et des Mésanges charbonnières.

Ces projets se dérouleront dans le laboratoire de Julie Morand-Ferron à l'Université d'Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Les candidat.e.s devront postuler préférentiellement avant fin septembre 2018.
 
Graduate Positions in Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology
Funding is available for PhD or MSc students in the Morand-Ferron lab, 
University Research Chair in Cognitive Ecology.
Research  on  cognitive  processes  has  historically  targeted  mechanistic  questions  via  neurosciences  and psychology,  leaving  evolutionary  considerations  mostly  unexamined.  As  a  consequence  we  still  do  not understand  why  cognitive  abilities  vary  so  drastically  between  or  within-species,  or  the  consequences  this variation  has  on  cultural  and  biological  evolution.  Research  in  my  group  aims  at  examining  the  causes  and consequences of individual variation in cognitive abilities, using a combination of field experiments, aviary work, and  wild  population  monitoring.  Research  questions  will  be  developed  in  collaboration  with  the  selected candidates, but are expected to be centred on one of the following themes: 
(1) Urbanization, social information use, and dominance in black-capped chickadees:
Previous work in my group suggests that chickadees living in more urbanized settings value  social  information  about  novel  food  patch  less  than  conspecifics  from  forested patches  located  outside  of  Ottawa  (Jones  et  al  2017  Anim  Behav  129,  93:101).
Moreover, dominants receive and  transmit social information at a higher rate, perhaps due to their more central social network position. Future work would involve designing experiments to  directly assess the possibility that urban and rural chickadees differ in the type of information they attend to, and elucidate potential differences in the benefits of  dominance  along an urbanization gradient.  Other potential research  themes include food-hoarding and spatial cognition, producer-scrounger game, and animal personality. 
(2) The cognition behind social interactions in great tits:
Great  tits  must  navigate  a  wide  range  of  social  interactions,  from  agonistic encounters  to  affiliative interactions in winter flocks  and  with potential  mates. This project seeks to examine  cognitive processes underlying the ability of individuals to adjust  their  social  behaviour  depending  on  the  current  context.  Additional  themes include  habitat-related differences in behaviour and cognition, as a follow-up of our findings of differential accuracy in a reversal learning task in conspecifics from low vs. high elevations (Hermer et al 2018 Behav Ecol 29, 840:847).  This project will be conducted in collaboration with Prof. Alexis Chaine; data collection will take place in Moulis, France, but the student will be based in Ottawa.
To apply: Send a short cover letter, CV, and latest unofficial transcript to jmf@uottawa.ca
Selected candidates will be guaranteed a paid position of 20 000$CAD per year (4 years for PhD, 2 years for MSc). Canadian applicants with >85% CGPA in their last two years of studies automatically obtain a UO scholarship covering 100% tuition fees for the duration of their studies, and are expected to apply for NSERC and OGS scholarships. International PhD students pay tuition fees at the same level than Canadian students (approx. 8000$/year). Ideal candidates would have research experience in behavioural ecology or animal cognition, and have contributed to the writing of scientific publication(s). Positions will be filled as suitable applicants get interviewed and accepted, most likely by the end of Sept 2018. Start date: May or Sept 2019.
Dr Julie Morand-Ferron
Associate Professor and University Research Chair in Cognitive Ecology
Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Canada
@JMorandFerron
http://mysite.science.uottawa.ca/jmorandf