The conservation and sustainability of Pacific salmon relies heavily on the use of models to predict abundance prior to and during the fishing season in order to inform decisions about when, where, or if to open fisheries. Current models have not performed well in recent years; the role of changing climates and environments on different life stages has led to increased levels of uncertainty in model predictions. We seek a postdoctoral research fellow to join a multi-disciplinary team that is investigating mechanisms that influence the dynamic responses of wild salmon to environmental variability and climate change; this team includes researchers from several universities and government agencies with specializations in fish ecology, conservation and management, bioinformatics, genomics, physiology, and social sciences. The postdoctoral fellow will develop and evaluate quantitative population assessment models that incorporate new knowledge about the effects of climate and env! ironmental variability on the demography of juvenile and adult salmon.
The ideal candidate will hold a PhD in population ecology, quantitative ecology, fisheries science or a related field and have experience with modelling the dynamics of populations. Knowledge of generalized linear modelling, parameter estimation, or Bayesian methods would be valuable assets, as would programming experience (e.g. in Matlab, R). It is expected that the postdoctoral fellow will disseminate results through refereed journal publications and/or conference presentations. The appointment is for 2 years at an annual salary of $43,724. Preference will be given to candidates available to start during the summer 2009. Candidates from any country may apply, but must have received their PhD within the past 5 years to be eligible. The postdoctoral fellow will have the option of being based either at the Pacific Biological Station (Nanaimo, British Columbia) or at the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC).
