Job title:
PhD studentship – The social ecology of parental care in an island bird
Responsibilities:
Parental care encompasses a diverse array of physiological and behavioural adaptations in both humans and non-human animals. Parents must defend offspring from threats and shelter them from climatic extremes. Understanding the drivers of this diversity has remained a central focus in evolutionary biology and is increasingly important given the challenges faced by wild populations as a result of climate change, predator invasions and human disturbance.
Crucially, in nature individual parents are rarely independent actors and are instead embedded within complex social networks characterised by diverse social interactions. The proposed PhD project will investigate the role of the social environment in influencing patterns of parental care.
The project will focus on an individually marked natural population of ground-nesting plovers on the island of Maio, Cabo Verde. Our team has investigated the behaviour and ecology of this population since 2007. The research will combine detailed studies of parental behaviour, population monitoring and field experiments. We collaborate with a local NGO, Maio Biodiversity Foundation (FMB), and the PhD student will have the opportunity to assist conservation programmes on the island.
Requirements:
- MSc in a biological subject
- Strong interest in fieldwork, biodiversity, animal behaviour, evolutionary biology
- Willingness to work in remote areas
Location:
- University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Hungary
- Fieldwork on the island of Maio, Cabo Verde
Funding:
- Scholarships available for Hungarian nationals
- EU students may be eligible for funding from the Hungarian government
- Stipendium Hungaricum scholarships available for several non-EU countries (https://stipendiumhungaricum.hu/)
How to apply:
Interested candidates should send their CV (max 2 pages) to grant.mcdonald@univet.hu by March 31, 2025.
Contact details:
Dr Grant C. McDonald
Associate Professor
Department of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest
Email: grant.mcdonald@univet.hu
Selected references:
- Székely, T., et al. (2024). The causes and implications of sex role diversity in shorebird breeding systems. Ibis, 166, 357–385. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.13277
- McDonald, G.C., et al. (2023). Remating opportunities and low costs underlie maternal desertion. Evolution, 77, 97–109. https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpac020
- McDonald, G.C., et al. (2020). The impact of social structure on breeding strategies in an island bird. Scientific Reports, 10, 13872. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70595-w
