Within the framework
of the ORNIT-EOF
project funded by the Agence De l’Environnement
et de la Maîtrise de l’Énergie (https://www.ademe.fr/), we are looking for an inspired Post Doc, to
lead cutting-edge research in movement ecology and seabird biological
conservation.
Posting:
Centre d’Écologie
Fonctionnelle et Évolutive, Montpellier, France.
Project leaders: David Grémillet and Nicolas Courbin.
Starting date: 1st July 2019
Duration: Two years
Requirement: PhD completed within the last 24 months
Application deadline: 15 May 2019
Opportunity and training: This project will
provide the Post-Doctoral fellow with the opportunity to use an extensive
seabird (shearwater) tracking data base to address essential issues in movement
ecology and conservation biology within a windfarm and marine traffic development
context, and to publish in leading ecological journals. The research will mainly
focus on data analysis and writing, but will also include fieldwork (two field sessions).
It will be conducted in collaboration with other institutions (Pôle Mer
Méditerranée and Biotope, and potentially Ligue de Protection des Oiseaux and
France Energies Marines) being the inter-connection across the different workpackages
of the ORNIT-EOF project. The research will be of direct use to a wide range of
stakeholders, especially for the Agence Française pour la Biodiversité (AFB)
and the managers of the Parc National des Calanques of Marseille.
Context: The major impact
of offshore windfarm on seabirds is a key conservation issue. Seabirds can
suffer from lethal (collision risk with turbine) and non-lethal effects (habitat
loss, increase of energy expenditure).
It is essential to follow the 3D movements of seabirds
to assess their potential interactions with offshore windfarm. The most part of
our knowledge is based on direct at sea observations of the bird behavior with
a low precision of flight height (Bradbury et al. 2014 PLoS One 9:e106366,
Johnston et al. 2014 J. Appl. Ecol. 51:31-41). The low precision of direct
observations currently limits our understanding of the windfarm effects on bird
populations (Green et al. 2016 J. Appl. Ecol. 53:1635-1641). 2D tracking has
been done for many bird species in a windfarm context, which improved our
understanding of their space use related to turbine presence. However, only trackings
of bird movements in 3D allow to determine the potential contacts with wind turbine.
Such 3D trackings are rare, and no 3D space use have been estimated for
shearwater species at this time. For other birds, e.g. gannet, the flight
heights recorded with specific loggers were higher than altitude previously
estimated from direct observations, showing a significant increase in collision
risk with wind turbine (Cleasby et al. 2015 J. Appl. Ecol. 52:1474-1482). It
becomes crucial to get in situ measures of flight height for Scopoli
shearwaters, which extensively used the areas of the future offshore windfarms
(Courbin et al. 2018 Ecol. Lett. 21:1043-1054, Péron et al. 2018 Div. Distr.
24:1772-1787).
Birds can also suffer from non-lethal effect in
a windfarm context due to large scale avoidance effect, barrier effect and loss
of areas with high functional value (resting or foraging site for example). These
effects, generally ignored, could lead to changes in energetic expenditures for
seabirds which try to avoid disturbed areas or balance habitat loss by
searching for new and potentially less suitable areas. Few methodological tools
allowing to test the impacts and delineate the critical areas for birds are actually
available. The use of mechanistic habitat selection models can allow evaluating
the impacts of windfarm on spatial distribution of seabirds and anticipating
the future changes in their space use. This approach will be suitable for any
animals moving in a human disturbed landscape, including at land, and will
provide an analytical tool to assess impacts of anthropogenic projects of any
nature elsewhere in the world. With the use of energetics in a context of management
and conservation of biodiversity, the project will lead cutting-edge research.
Project objectives:
The overall aim of the project is to characterize
the drivers of the spatial distribution of the Scopoli’s shearwater population
in the western Mediterranean to anticipate lethal and non-lethal effects related
to the offshore windfarm development. To this aim, the Post Doc will be follow
two main objectives:
1) Characterizing the space use in 3D by Scopoli
shearwaters. This objective require the deployment of 3D loggers on birds,
estimating their flight height and assessing the risk of bird collision with
turbine (model of collision risk).
2) The at-sea home-range of birds could also be
largely modified by windfarm due to a large scale avoidance behavior of birds. The
use of mechanistic habitat selection model based on energetics can allow
anticipating the changes in pattern of spatial distribution of birds and the
potential population consequences. Mechanistic habitat selection model require
modelling a) the energetic expenses of shearwater given local conditions, and b)
assessing energetic benefits based on prey fields. Prey field will be modelled
based on IFREMER data.
Expected outcomes:
Three scientific publications in international
research journals. The Post Doc will also be in charge of promoting his/her
work in international conferences and by attending meetings with the ADEME / PMM
and further stakeholders.
Required skills:
The candidate should have (1) Strong modelling,
analytical and mapping skills, as the candidate will have to deal with large
databases, to download and format remote-sensing biotic/abiotic information, to
perform sophisticated statistical analyses and modelling of time series as well
as of spatial data, and to adequately graph/map research outcomes. Background
in habitat selection analyses is a plus. (2) A taste for writing, as the work
will involve reporting to the ADEME, as well as publishing three papers in
high-profiled journals. (3) The capacity to conduct seabird fieldwork involving
GPS-recorder deployments on sensitive wildlife, and to function in the most
secure manner in an isolated insular environment. (4) The candidate will be
expected to be fairly independent across the project, including the writing up
of papers. (5) French language skills are mandatory.
Salary and terms: ~2000 euros net, please
contact us for detailed information
Location: The Post Doc
fellow will be based at the Centre d’Écologie Fonctionnelle et Évolutive in
Montpellier, France (http://www.cefe.cnrs.fr/).
Project partners: David Grémillet
and Nicolas Courbin (coordinators, CEFE-CNRS).
Applications:
Please send your CV and motivation letter to: Nicolas Courbin, CEFE-CNRS,
Montpellier, France Email: nicolas.courbin@cefe.cnrs.fr