Ph.D. applications to work with the wild (feral) horses of Sable Island, Nova Scotia: focus on ecology and evolution and/or conservation.
Location: University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada Closing: Will need to contact me by January 1, 2014 to put together an application for internal scholarship, due Feb 1 2014 ($22,000 CAD per year, plus negotiable top-up to salary). Application for the scholarship will require first an application to the U of S College of Graduate Studies and Research (online). In order to meet the deadline for the scholarship applications should be submitted asap (small online fee). Students must have a record of publication in mainstream peer-reviewed journals and GPA of 3.8 or higher to be competitive for this opportunity. Apply: Email me a CV and pdf copies of both undergrad and graduate transcripts (unless interested in a post-doc, then only a CV is required). Email to [email protected]. Please write “Sable Island” as the subject line. I will be in touch with eligible candidates shortly. Description: My lab is developing a long-term, individual-based program of research into the ecology and evolution of the feral horses living on Sable Island, Nova Scotia. As part of this initiative, I am looking to recruit a Ph.D. student to ask fundamental questions of the population ecology, life history, behaviour, conservation, and evolution of the feral horse population. I am particularly looking for mature students that are interested in developing a Ph.D. program that will contribute to and make use of the long-term data set my lab is collecting on the life histories of the horses on the island. This summer was the sixth year of data collection, which includes summer censusing and identification of all individuals on the island using digital photography, and documentation of individual life histories with the goal of constructing whole-island pedigrees. Sample sizes are large, with 559 horses alive on the island as at Aug 2013. Ph.D. students with 2–3 years of further data collection will be in a position to ask interesting questions regarding individual-based dynamics, band dynamics and dispersal, behaviour and dominance, habitat selection, social networking, sex ratios and sexual selection, and questions involving traits such as body size and colouration patterns. We are currently sampling for DNA (requires additional funding; rooted hairs are in storage for most individuals, as are fecal swabs) that may allow for collaborative questions on genetics and evolution, including paternity and pedigree construction. Trends in the above will likely be related to a very strong and interesting gradient in habitat quality along the length of Sable Island from west to east, associated with availability of preferred forage and access to fresh water (horse density drops by half from west to east). We are also very interested in students with a background in conservation biology. One of our current research themes examines the risks inherent to small populations like that on Sable, including inbreeding depression and demographic stochasticity. As the horse social system is similar to primates, there may be opportunities to examine the questions of effective population size on conservation prospects for the Sable Island horses, but also species like gorillas. The important thing is that applicants will be mature enough to develop their own insightful questions of ecology and evolution, using the system we have access to on Sable Island as a model. That said, our lab is following several lines of research that potential students may want to build on. Current students are studying or have studied spatial heterogeneity in horse population growth on the island, stress as it relates to band structure and dynamics from cortisol (from hair), parasites, dispersal, body size relationships, patterns in vegetation and successional dynamics, and spatial heterogeneity in isotopic signatures from vegetation samples and animal tissues to develop isoscapes from seal and seabird transfer of marine-derived nutrients onto the island. Opportunities to publish in good journals and set oneself up for a career in academia may be found here. Field work will occur principally in late summer on Sable Island; further information on this field site can be found at my lab website, below, and at: http://sableislandfriends.ca/?p=594 . Students can expect to publish outside of one’s own thesis topic as part of whole-lab research questions. Preference will be given to students that aspire to a career in academia and who have a track record that reflects this career goal. In addition to obtaining scholarships, students will be expected to apply for and help secure research funding for their own projects. Students and post-docs with funding in-hand are always welcome. Interested applicants should contact me asap by email ([email protected]), and be prepared to submit in short order a current CV with copies of transcripts (unless a post-doc, in which case only a CV is needed). The window to apply to grad school to be eligible for the scholarship opportunity is short. Website: http://mcloughlinlab.ca/lab/
