Post-Doc "Large-scale population modeling", Switzerland

[Michael Schaub]

Modelling large-scale population processes in Swiss breeding birds

The Swiss Ornithological Institute in Sempach (Switzerland) is seeking a highly motivated post-doctoral researcher to model large-scale population processes in Swiss breeding birds. The project aims 1) to develop methods that allow the estimation of survival and recruitment from monitoring data and 2) to model spatial and temporal variation of survival and recruitment in selected species to better understand population trends.

The main data source in the project will be the Swiss breeding bird survey (MHB), which has been producing 2-3 replicated counts per breeding season in 267 1 km2 quadrats in every breeding season since 1999. These data allow estimation of population trends in abundance while accommodating imperfect detection. However, the demographic mechanisms underlying these trends remain unknown. The model of Dail and Madsen (Biometrics 2011) enables the estimation of survival and recruitment from such data. Exploring the potential of the Dail-Madsen-model at the scale of Switzerland will be a first part of the project. A possible topic is also to develop extensions of the model, such as the inclusion of correlated spatial effects or the integration of MHB data with other data sets that are directly informative about demographic rates, such as ring-recoveries. A second part of the project is the application of the modelling framework to address relevant ecological and management questions. Candidates include the patterns of survival and recruitment along the altitudinal gradient in Switzerland or whether particular habitat types or regions are associated with higher survival or recruitment. It will be one of the duties of the selected candidate to identify relevant research topics in this field and then to expand on the identified issues using our data and the modelling framework to be developed.

The ideal candidate has solid experience in population modelling, in Bayesian statistical modelling and is a proficient programmer in the R and BUGS languages. Further, a demonstrated ability and willingness to produce high-quality publications will be an important selection criterion.

The work will be conducted in collaboration with Michael Schaub (michael.schaub@vogelwarte.ch) and Marc Kéry (marc.kery@vogelwarte.ch), which both are available for further information.

The position is initially for two years, but may be extended to a third year. The ideal starting date would be June 2013. Information on the Institute can be found at http://www.vogelwarte.ch/startseite-english.html

Applications (preferably by e-mail) should be submitted to Michael Schaub (michael.schaub@vogelwarte.ch), Swiss Ornithological Institute, 6204 Sempach, Switzerland, before 30 April 2013 and include a letter of motivation detailing research interests and experiences, a current CV and contact information of three academic referees. Interviews will tentatively take place in May 2013.