Social and environmental determinants of successful parents
Background
What makes some parents more successful than others? In species with parental care, successful reproduction relies on overcoming diverse challenges including locating breeding habitats, conflict and competition with conspecifics, and nurturing young to independence. Understanding the drivers of different parental strategies to meet these challenges has key implications for our understanding of life history decisions, sexual conflict and population productivity. However, we are yet to uncover how parents balance strategies to successfully navigate environmental conditions, while adopting social strategies that minimise conflict and maximise social benefits such as attaining social information.
Our international team is embarking a challenging field-based project that aims at clarifying the causes and implications of successful parenting by using state-of-the-art tracking technology to characterise movement patterns of parents through their ecological environment and social structure using an island-breeding population of Kentish plovers. The work will advance studies of social behaviour and breeding systems and contribute to biodiversity conservation. The project is built upon decades of investigations that resulted in publications in top research journals.
Fieldwork will be carried out in a tropical island in Cabo Verde where we are monitoring the local Kentish plover population since 2007. Beyond cutting edge research in evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology and population demography, the project will facilitate the conservation and management of the locally breeding Kentish plover population, and join to an international collaborative effort to understand sex roles, mating system and parental care evolution in shorebirds (https://elvonalshorebirds.com/).
This is a collaborative project between Uni Vet Med Budapest and Uni Vet Med Vienna where one post-doc each will be based. In addition, the project will involve collaboration with NGOs and local universities in Cabo Verde. The project is led by Dr Andras Kosztolanyi (Budapest) and Dr Ivan Maggini (Vienna) with scientific advice by Prof Tamas Szekely (Univ Bath, UK) and Dr Grant C. McDonald (Uni Vet Med Budapest).
Jobs
A senior post-doctoral researcher based in Uni Vet Med Vienna for 3.5 years, and
an early-stage post-doctoral researcher based in Uni Vet Med Budapest for 2.5 years
Dates
The positions are available from 1 September 2023.
Responsibilities
The main responsibilities of both positions will be:
Conducting avian fieldwork (capture, ringing, deployment of tracking devices, measurement of physiological and habitat parameters) in remote locations (e.g. Maio, Cabo Verde) for extended periods (2+ months per year)
Supporting an international team of scientists and collaborating with other researchers in the field
Analysing spatial data and constructing social networks
Writing articles for top-ranked journals in the field
Participating in international conferences and communicating results to the broader public
Working in partnership with locally based NGOs and participating institutions
Necessary knowledge and qualifications for both positions:
PhD or comparable title in life sciences (e.g. ecology, evolution, animal behaviour)
Experience with the analysis of spatial or temporal data
Computational/programming skills in R statistical software
Excellent written and spoken English
Valid driving licence
Additional skills and abilities for the Austrian position:
Experience in leading and managing scientific projects
Experience in animal tracking in wild populations
Strong experience in analysis of social network or animal movement data
Additional skills and abilities for the Hungarian position:
Experience in studying wild populations, preferably birds
Experience in analysing large datasets
How to apply
Application deadline is 30 June 2023. The application should include the title of the job, a max two pages cover letter, a CV with list of publications, and the name and contact details of three referees preferably from research, academia or conservation. The applications should be emailed to Drs Maggini and Kosztolanyi (Ivan.Maggini@vetmeduni.ac.at and Kosztolanyi.Andras@univet.hu). Interviews will be in late July/early August.
For information on institutional employment conditions for each position, please contact I Maggini for senior post-doc particulars and A Kosztolanyi for early-stage post-doc particulars.
Selected publications
Aispuro A.A., V. Canoine, M. Illa, L. Fusani, I. Maggini (2023, in press) Stopover territoriality in songbirds crossing the Sahara: aggression and energetics during migration. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. doi: 10.1007/s00265-023-03336-4
Eberhart-Phillips L.J., C. Küpper, M.C. Carmona-Isunza, O. Vincze, S. Zefania, M. Cruz-López, A. Kosztolányi, T.E.X. Miller, Z. Barta, I.C. Cuthill, T. Burke, T. Székely, J.I. Hoffman, O. Krüger (2018) Demographic causes of adult sex ratio variation and their consequences for parental cooperation. Nature Communications 9: 1651. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03833-5
McDonald, G.C., I.C. Cuthill, T., T. Székely, A. Kosztolányi (2023) Remating opportunities and low costs underlie maternal desertion. Evolution, 77, 97–109. doi: 10.1093/evolut/qpac020
McDonald, G.C., N. Engel, S.S. Ratão, T. Székely, A. Kosztolányi (2020) The impact of social structure on breeding strategies in an island bird. Scientific Reports. 10, 13872. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-70595-w
Rubolini D., I. Maggini, R. Ambrosini, S. Imperio, V.H. Paiva, G. Gaibani, N. Saino, J.G. Cecere (2015) The effect of moonlight on Scopoli’s shearwater Calonectris diomedea colony attendance patterns and nocturnal foraging: a test of the foraging efficiency hypothesis. Ethology, 121, 284–299. doi: 10.1111/eth.12338