Pon tus habilidades organizativas (¡y tu suajili!) en uso y conviértete en coordinador(a) de trabajo de campo internacional

Oferta compartida por Nuria

The newly founded Department for the Ecology of Animal Societies led by Prof. Meg Crofoot is a joint institution of the University of Konstanz with the nearby Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and has an open position for an International Fieldwork Coordinator 

The department embraces an explicitly collaborative approach to scientific exploration. Its multidisciplinary team works together to develop new ways of measuring, analyzing and interpreting the behaviour of socially complex animal species in ecologically and evolutionarily relevant field settings. To understand the causes and consequences of social variation, the department takes comparative approach, analyzing social interactions—from dyad to group to population—within and between species. Our working language is English and consequently applicants must be fluent in this language. 

We are searching for an International fieldwork Coordinator who will work with members of the department to facilitate our field-based research. The successful candidate will be the central contact person for all international field research activities and animal experiments and will support department scientists in research planning, permissions, logistics and reporting. In addition to the coordination and organization of the departmental activities at the different international field sites, she/he will be responsible for implementing safety trainings and protocols and ensuring compliance with national and international regulatory requirements. 

We seek a candidate who is committed to supporting and potentiating our worldclass research programme, has strong organizational skills, and has a demonstrated capacity for effective cross-cultural communication. Prior experience with international, field-based research in ecology, animal behaviour or related fields is desirable, as are Spanish, French and/or Swahili language skills.

Your Responsibilities

• Coordination of the departmental activities at international field sites
• Support in planning and organizing animal experiments and field trips, including required licenses and ethical approvals
• Ensuring compliance with international and national regulatory requirements
• Supporting the drafting of international collaboration agreements
• First point of contact for international partners
• Coordination of safety trainings, implementation of safety protocols and fieldwork emergency support response
• Support in export control including logistics
• Documentation and archiving of research records and experimental data
• Coordinate workshops (e.g., ethics, safety)
• Manage the research equipment inventory and deployment
• Assist in the development of collaborative agreements and serve as the primary liaison between the various international field sites and the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

Your Competencies

• Graduate degree (Master or PhD level) in biology, ecology, anthropology, or a related field
• Excellent interpersonal and intercultural skills, and a desire to work as part of a service oriented team
• Ability to work with the Director as part of a leadership team
• Strong organizational and communication skills
• Experience in international field work and/or environment
• Knowledge of animal ethics beneficial
• Excellent English and German skills in speaking and writing

We Offer

• A vibrant, interdisciplinary research community
• A global hotspot for the integrated study of animal behaviour across a wide range of species and across scales of organization
• Good development opportunities, extensive training and an attractive remuneration package
• Classification according to the tariff regulations of TV- L (depending on the personal prerequisites up to pay group E 13 TV-L)

For further information please see: https://stellen.uni-konstanz.de/jobposting/2a8fbac4905cd08d6794620397a745b799ede7420.

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Voluntariado remunerado para este verano estudiando arrendajos siberianos en Laponia

Oferta compartida por Nuria

2 Expenses-paid field assistant positions for a project investigating dispersal of Siberian jays in Swedish Lapland

For the upcoming field season (15.6.-1.10.2022), we are looking for 2 highly motivated, expenses-paid field volunteers to assist with our field project (principal investigator Dr. Michael Griesser, University
of Konstanz). The study site is located near Arvidsjaur in Swedish Lapland. An overview over our past work can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaH6wjAYAiE

Our current project investigates the effect of social interactions on the dispersal of Siberian jays. The work of the field volunteers will be to help with catching, radio-tagging and colour-ringing birds, sampling blood, conducting population censuses and behavioral observations, and managing data. This work will provide insights into a long-term study system and will be carried out in managed and pristine boreal forests. Our fieldwork may at times involve walking up to 15km per day.

Qualifications:

1. Bird ringing and mist-netting experience
2. Field work experience, preferably involving behavioural observation and experiments
3. Radio tagging and radio tracking experience is a plus
4. Ability to work in small teams and sociable personality
5. Driver’s license (manual transmission)
6. Fluent in English

We will cover accommodation, travel expenses from and to the study site (up to 360 euros return), as well as on-site living expenses (food).

Applications, including a CV, letter of motivation (1 page), and the name of two referees, should be sent to Michael Griesser michael.griesser@uni-konstanz.de, preferably in a single PDF.

Applications received until 2. May 2022 will be given full consideration.

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Investiga cómo la dieta, habitat y temperatura influye en la evolución de los lagartos anolis del Caribe

Oferta compartida por Nuria

The postdoctoral scholar will join a collaborative team of researchers elucidating how Anolis lizard niches evolve along dietary, habitat (vegetation structure), and temperature axes. The postdoc will be primarily based out of the Frishkoff Lab (www.frishkofflab.com) at the University of Texas at Arlington, but will collaborate closely with researchers in the laboratories of Martha Muñoz (Yale University) and Luke Mahler (University of Toronto). Anolis lizards form diverse communities on the islands of the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean. But why some species both dominate local communities, and are geographically widespread within individual islands, is unclear. As part of a three-year NSF-funded project, the postdoc will characterize species’ geographic distributions, local abundances in communities, and niche breadths in three replicate adaptive radiations across Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic. In particular, the postdoc will lead the characterization of anoles' community structures and their dietary niches with respect to their insect prey, though will be involved in project activities related to the thermal and vegetation structural niche as well.

Specifically, the postdoc will be responsible for:

• Co-leading field expeditions of 6-10 researchers to Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and the Dominican Republic to:
• quantify Anolis lizard abundance in standardized plot surveys across environments on each island
• collect insect community samples using sweep nets, pitfall traps and other methods
• collect Anolis fecal samples for metagenomic barcoding dietary analysis
• Conducting analysis of Anolis dietary niches through metagenomic barcoding and sequencing of fecal samples at UTA. Additionally, the post-doc will work with undergraduate team members to:
• Identify insects and assess total biomass and body size distributions across sites
• Sanger sequence representative insects from field collections to build sequence-to-specimen library
• Managing resulting data
• Analyzing lizard dietary niche breadth in relation to lizard abundance, environment, and insect availability across sites
• Preparing scientific manuscripts
• Mentoring junior researchers

Additionally, the postdoc will be encouraged to develop independent ideas pertaining to Anolis lizards and/or insect community ecology in the system. The postdoc will collaborate closely with affiliated labs, and will be supported to travel to the University of Toronto for several weeks as a visiting scholar to work collaboratively on project activities and to develop skills in phylogenetic comparative analysis with the Mahler Lab.

Initial appointment will be for one year, with the expectation of extension for two additional years contingent on performance.

Requirements:

• PhD in ecology or related field
• Quantitative statistical skills and familiarity with analysis in R
• Excitement to conduct tropical fieldwork in a variety of environments, sometimes with minimal amenities
• Strong communication skills, and ability to work both as part of a team and independently
• Demonstrated capacity to develop, conduct, and complete projects, as evidenced by a publication record

Preferred, but not required skills:

• Experience with tropical field biology
• Experience in entomology and insect identification
• Experience with Illumina sequencing, especially metabarcoding
• Experience with field herpetology

Please provide: (1) a cover letter detailing your interest in the position, your qualifications, your general research interests, and relevant experiences; (2) a CV; (3) names and contact information of three academic references; and (4) 1-2 publications

Please submit these materials as a single pdf to Dr. Luke Frishkoff (luke.frishkoff@uta.edu) with the subject line: "Anolis niche postdoc".

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