We offer a 2-years post-doctorate position (expected starting time on 2023 February 1st) to quantify and understand the relative effects of the environment and sport hunting on the dynamics, genetics and genomics of red deer populations. The red deer is of particular interest in Europe and France, both from a sociological and a hunting point of view. The main objective of the post-doc fellow is to analyse and publish scientific papers from historical demographic data on the long-term (~ 30 years) monitoring of individual red deer at La Petite Pierre (Bas-Rhin, France) and Chambord (Loir-et-Cher, France). Another component of the post-doc work relates to the genetics of these populations for which we need to estimate the genetic population parameters (genetic diversity, effective population size, genes under selection, genomic basis of individual heterogeneity…) using both classical molecular genetic and genomic approaches. We finally aim at linking the genetic characteristics of the red deer populations living in contrasting environments (closed vs open populations) or hunting policies (trophy hunting vs. population control) with the observed population dynamics (demo-genetics).
The post-doctorate fellow will contribute, with LBBE teams, to the framing of the scientific questions from which wildlife managers and the French Office for Biodiversity will derive management policies and advices for a better control of red deer populations. Although most demographic data are readily available, please consider that some time is needed to understand the structure and limitations of the data sets. Abundance, hunting bags, body mass, reproduction and survival data will serve to describe the long-run population dynamics of the 2 red deer populations. Density-dependence, responses to weather and its interaction with hunting will be investigated into details. An important goal of this work will be the generalisation of the results / model to other red deer populations for which we only have partial demographic data. Ultimately, we should provide wildlife managers with clear and applicable management policies for such a sexually dimorphic species. We envision an integrated approach (joined analyses of different data type) for statistical analyses given the heterogeneity of the data we have at hand. We expect the post-doctorate fellow to have a strong will and motivation to dig into genetic genomics concepts and tools to complete the second part of the project. Beside the description of standard genetic measures (genetic diversity, effective population size…), we will identify genes under selection in different ecological contexts in order to uncover the genomic bases of individual heterogeneity in life history traits (e.g. reproduction, survival…) and to infer the evolutionary history of the studied populations. The candidate will receive help and support from the bioinformatic and biotechnology teams of the LBBE, in addition to a master student in spring 2024. The ultimate goal of the project is to build a conceptual model to describe and understand the interaction between genetics and population dynamics (demo-genetic modelling).
This project is implemented in two study territories of the French Office of Biodiversity (OFB) with long-term deer monitoring offering contrasting quasi-experimental conditions:
- La Petite Pierre: mid-mountain forest environment, open territory,
- Chambord: lowland forest environment, closed territory.
These two territories offer an exceptional history of deer population monitoring:
- La Petite Pierre: hunting and biometric and demographic data by CMR since 1975, counting data since 1978, genetic data (tissue samples) since 2006,- Chambord: hunting and biometric data, since 1980, count data since 1985, and demographic data by CMR and genetic data (tissue samples) since 2014.
Work context
The host lab is the Biometry and Evolutionary Biology Lab (LBBE, UMR CNRS 5558: https://lbbe.univ-lyon1.fr/) from the University of Lyon 1, CNRS and VetAgroSup, located in the outskirt of Lyon, France. Almost 200 people contribute to the research at the LBBE that brings together mathematical modelling and IT to answers questions in ecological, evolutionary and health (humans, animals) sciences. The LBBE is among the most important ecology lab in France, with a long history of scientific collaborations with partners in charge of studies and research on wildlife such as the French Office for Biodiversity and with wildlife managers (national park services, Game and Wildlife services).
The post-doc will work in close collaboration with Maryline Pellerin (French Office for Biodiversity, Conservation and sustainable management of exploited species department), Christophe Bonenfant (Evolutionary demography Team at the LBBE), Sébastien Devillard (Ecology and Evolution of populations Team at the LBBE) and Ludovic Say (Ecology and Evolution of populations Team at the LBBE).
General informations
Workplace: VILLEURBANNE (69, FRANCE)
Contract Period: 24 months
Expected date of employment: February 1st 2023
Remuneration: between 2805.35 and 4140.29 euros gross per month depending on experience
Desired level of education: PhD
Experience required: ≤ 2 years
Application
Please send a full CV and motivation letter as well as putative two
reference persons to Maryline Pellerin (maryline.pellerin@ofb.gouv.fr), Ludovic Say (ludovic.say@univ-lyon1.fr), Christophe Bonenfant (Christophe.bonenfant@univ-lyon1.fr) and Sébastien Devillard (sebastien.devillard@univ-lyon1.fr).
Closing date for application is 2022 December 15th.
