Project description
Animal migration is fascinating mankind since long. Migratory animals must be benefitting from their journey, but must also face considerable costs.  More precisely, migratory animals must trade off the benefits of integrating resource uptake over large geographical distances against the costs of extra time, energy and mortality risk. Environmental change, increasingly induced through human actions, may alter the cost-benefit balance and thereby the adaptive value of migration. In this project we exploit a unique situation where anthropogenic change paved the way for a traditionally arctic-breeding long-distance migratory bird, the barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis), to partially stop migrating and start reproducing also in temperate regions. In this study system,   the underlying behavioural and physiological mechanisms mediating the costs and benefits of migration can be quantified. The emphasis of our current work will be on the energetic consequences of adopting a migratory or non-migratory lifestyle.

You will collect and analyse bio-logging data (location, 3D-accelerometry a.m.) to infer movement, foraging and other activity patterns from free-ranging individuals from both arctic-breeding migratory and temperate-breeding non-migratory populations, and link these with environmental data (e.g. weather, habitat, food). This will allow you to test whether the sedentary population leads a more relaxed lifestyle by adopting an energy-minimising strategy, or if they are constrained by local environmental factors, such as inferior feeding conditions and higher disturbance. Further integration with physiological measurements (heart rate, body temperature) will allow identification of important energy-conserving mechanisms and the conditions under which these are employed. Comparisons of different lifestyles include the whole annual cycle and will be made at the population level. Variation in migratory strategies and in-flight behaviour in response to atmospheric conditions will be studied in individuals from the arctic-migratory population. You will work closely together with dr. G. Eichhorn, who will primarily focus on physiological aspects within this project. Extensive field studies will be performed in our long-term study site at Kolokolkova Bay in low arctic Russia and in a breeding colony along the North Sea coast.

The project is funded by the New Netherlands Polar Programme of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

a highly motivated and enthusiastic person with a MSc in animal ecology, behaviour, physiology or earth science (with strong background in ecology) who has:

• a strong interest and skills in analysing large and complex datasets, and, preferably, experience using programming languages (e.g. MatLab, R);
• preferably experience with bio-logging, animal movement and analysis of spatial data;
• a solid training in statistical analysis and a proven ability of submitting research results;
• the ability of organising and conducting field work in remote areas in an international team;
• interest in integrative interdisciplinary research;

Knowledge of Russian and/or Dutch is an advantage.

• a temporary appointment, initially for 1 year and upon satisfactory performance to be prolonged for a maximum of 4 years total;

• a gross salary starting at € 2.222, - per month in the 1st year, gradually increasing to a maximum of € 2.840,- per month in the 4th year, scale P, Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO Nederlandse Universiteiten) plus an additional 8% holiday pay and a year-end bonus;

• an extensive package of fringe benefits;

• enrolment in the doctoral training program of the PE&RC graduate school (https://www.pe-rc.nl/)

• use of state-of-the-art facilities at the NIOO-KNAW and collaborative partners.

You will join the Animal Ecology Group (https://nioo.knaw.nl/en/departments/department-animal-ecology) at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, NIOO-KNAW in Wageningen.

NIOO - KNAW

The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO) is a top research institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). NIOO-KNAW focuses on fundamental and strategic research into individual organisms, populations, ecological communities, and ecosystems. The mission is to carry out excellent research in ecology.