STUDY PhD AT THE DEPARTMENT OF GAME MANAGEMENT AND WILDLIFE BIOLOGY
Dead line : September 2nd
Study programme: Forest protection and hunting Are you interested in living nature? Do you like to be both in the field and the laboratory? Would you like to know the secrets of the sensory biology of dogs, game, and other animals? Are you interested in connecting biology and modern technologies? What do we do? • Spatial orientation of hunting dogs, their sensory perception and behaviour • Magnetic orientation of free-living ungulates • Magnetoreception of invertebrates, fish, and small mammals • Bioacoustics – vocal communication between animals • We develop methods of collecting and processing positional data and audio-video recordings of their behaviour What we offer: • The largest electromagnetic coil in Europe for studying larger mammals • State-of-the-art laboratory with two electromagnetic coils for studying invertebrates, fish, and small mammals • Modern equipment for field data collection • School Forest Enterprise • Cooperation with leading foreign universities • The possibility of obtaining above-standard scholarships and own start-up grants • And above all, a great group of people who will support you throughout your PhD studies APPLICATION SUBMISSION DEADLINE 2.9.2022 lesarna FLDvPraze More information on individual topics can be found at katedry.czu.cz/kmlz, or contact Associate Professor Vlastimil Hart (hart@fld.czu.cz) Find your topic: 1. Sensory perception and orientation abilities of hunting dogs Hunting dogs are known for their excellent orientation skills. Recent research has confirmed their ability to sense the Earth‘s magnetic field and use it for navigation. Their sense of smell is also extraordinary. The aim of the thesis will be to expand knowledge about the spatial orientation of dogs, about the involvement of magnetoreception and other senses in navigation processes, to focus on the influence of the magnetic field on the positional behaviour of dogs and, using modern training methods, to find out the reactions of dogs to the changing magnetic field in the magnetic coil. 2. Testing new technologies for collecting and processing positional data and audio-video recordings A full understanding of animals‘ navigational abilities and overall behaviour in their natural environment requires detailed information about their sensory perception and cognitive abilities. While the pioneers of ethology involved in monitoring wild animals had to be content with direct observation only, current science can rely on new technologies (telemetry, GPS, bio-loggers) allowing much more relevant and detailed information to be obtain. The aim of the thesis will be the development and improvement of existing technologies for monitoring animals in their natural environment and the development of software enabling the subsequent automatic processing of these large-volume data (e.g. in the Matlab system, etc.). 3. Bioacoustics of dogs A dog‘s hearing is sensitive to sounds from 30 Hz to 45,000 Hz. Dogs are thus able to hear in a wider frequency spectrum than humans, who hear in the range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Previous research has shown that dogs bark differently in different situations. Our latest research revealed that hunting dog barking differs depending on the type of wild animal the dogs come into contact with. The aim of the thesis will be to describe the variability of barking depending on the animal species, to describe the reactions of dogs to other dogs‘ barking and reaction to different animals, including the measurement of physiological parameters, and to further investigate the ability of people to recognize different types of barking. 4. Effect of magnetic field on insects The ability of insects to perceive magnetic field has been proven in a number of expert studies. Nevertheless, the mechanisms of this phenomenon are still not sufficiently explored and clarified. One hypothesis states that the mechanism of magnetoreception in insects is light-dependent and involves flavoproteins (cryptochromes). They require light of a certain wavelength to be activated. A light-independent mechanism of magnetoreception based on the directional orientation of ferritin or other magneto-sensitive particles parallel to the magnetic field lines also comes into consideration. The aim of the thesis will be to find out the reactions of insects and their developmental stages to various parameters, stimuli, and changes in the magnetic field (intensity, magnetic storms, etc.). The experiments will take place in the conditions of electromagnetic coils at FLD. 5. Magnetic orientation of wild boar and European deer based on data from accelerometers and magnetometers The magnetic orientation of large wild mammals has so far been assessed only on the basis of direct observations or indirect signs (e.g. resting). However, the current technology of bio-loggers allows us to continuously monitor them for a relatively long time (months) without the disturbing presence of an observer (human) in their natural environment. The aim of the thesis will be to evaluate the effect of environmental variables (weather, landscape structure, seasonality, intensity of magnetic field and anomalies) on the magnetic orientation of large ungulates. Data obtained from telemetry monitoring between 2019 and 2022 will be evaluated (more than 120 individuals). 6. Magnetoreception in fish The effect of magnetic fields (MF) on fish are much less studied in comparison with other physical factors (temperature, illumination, gravitation etc). It has been proven that sharks can use MF of Earth, in combination with local MF produced by rocks, to navigate in the absence of other clues, and that they can react to artificially produced MF at the strength of 25-100 µT. It was proven that various species of teleost fish (eels, tuna) can detect weak MF (several tens or hundreds of µT) in the experiments in magnetic coil and mazes, where direction of swimming correlated with MF presence and direction, and in physiological experiments where application of MF changed fish heartbeat frequency. Unfortunately, the mechanism(s) of magnetoreception in fish are still open to debate. The aim of the study is to examine orientation behaviour of both tropical and European freshwater fish in relation to MF in laboratory experiments. 7. Physiological reactions in domestic dogs to natural and simulated geomagnetic storms It has been reported that rapid changes in intensity and direction of geomagnetic field (GMF) caused by solar activity can cause stress reactions in mammals and impact their circadian cycle and seasonal changes in the metabolism of hormones. In domestic dogs, this kind of research is still at the beginning, partly because there are almost no standard immunoassays (EIA) developed and verified for them. The most common way to detect stress in dogs is assessing cortisol levels in blood, saliva, coat, or faeces, of which faecal samples are the most common type suitable for routine observations. You will study levels of stress and other hormonal markers in dogs (cortisol, potentially also DHEA and melatonin) in connection with natural and artificially created magnetic storms