PhD: Woodland caribou habitat selection (Canada)

Job Title:  Ph.D. applications to work on woodland caribou habitat selection
and conservation in the Saskatchewan Boreal Shield.

Location: University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Closing:  Will need to contact me by Feb 15, 2014. Students must have a
record of publication in mainstream peer-reviewed journals and GPA of 3.8 or
higher.

Apply:  Email me a CV and pdf copies of both undergrad and graduate
transcripts. Email to philip.mcloughlin@usask.ca.  Please write “Woodland
Caribou” as the subject line.

Description: My lab is developing a long-term research program on the
ecology of threatened woodland caribou in northern Saskatchewan, Canada,
including population dynamics, critical habitat, and the population dynamics
of their main predators (wolves and black bears). This opportunity, which is
fully funded commencing May 1, 2014, is for a Ph.D. student to study caribou
habitat selection and density relationships including linking caribou
populations to habitat where we have both collared caribou and survey data.
Locations of approximately 135 collared caribou will allow us to analyze
habitat selection using resource selection functions (RSFs), i.e., model
probabilities of occurrence for points or pixels in space as a function of
habitat descriptors such as elevation, vegetation attributes (e.g., ecosite,
successional pathway, canopy closure, and stand age), distance to water and
movement corridors, snow depth, and the background RSF models of predators
(developed by a lab mate)—all of which may interact with natural and
anthropogenic disturbance. This project will further the development of RSF
models that take into account ecological dynamics, especially the
relationship between caribou habitat selection, local densities, and wolf
and black bear habitat selection. . Field work will occur principally in
winter.

The project is fully funded at $21,000 CAD per year, however, students will
be expected to apply for internal and external scholarships, including NSERC
PGS-D scholarships (if Canadian). The successful student will have an
opportunity to engage with a large lab working on related questions with
respect to caribou population dynamics, but also our lab’s long-term project
on the life history and evolution of the Sable Island horses. Students can
expect to publish outside of one’s own thesis topic as part of whole-lab
research questions.

Evidence of familiarity with resource selection functions, generalized
linear models, and programming in the R language is an asset. Preference
will be given to students that aspire to a career in academia and who have a
track record that reflects this career goal

Interested applicants should contact me asap by email
(philip.mcloughlin@usask.ca), and be prepared to submit a current CV with
copies of transcripts (unless a post-doc, in which case only a CV is
needed).  Website: http://mcloughlinlab.ca/lab/