PhD on seabirds
Ph.D. Studentship NERC CASE award Start date: September 2006
or January 2007
The impact of predator-prey interactions on conservation strategies for seabirds
Supervisors: Prof. Bob Furness, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, Glasgow University
Dr Richard Luxmoore, Head of Nature Conservation, National Trust for Scotland
The project: Great skuas are predatory seabirds that are increasing rapidly in numbers on St Kilda, and are killing unsustainable numbers of storm-petrels. St Kilda is the only large colony of Leach’s storm-petrels in Europe. The student will investigate how skuas exploit petrels on St Kilda, whether petrels being killed are predominantly prospecting or breeding birds, and how predation varies with weather, petrel colony habitat, skua territory distribution, and the individual characteristics of the skuas. The research will involve analysis of skua diets and breeding performance and dynamics of Leach’s storm-petrels. Fieldwork may include radio tracking, and mark-recapture of petrels. A field assistant will be employed to assist with fieldwork in the summer. The research will assist in formulating conservation strategy for St Kilda seabirds.
Candidates: We seek a candidate with, or likely to obtain, a 1st class (or high 2.1) degree, who is highly motivated, and can work independently and also as part of a team. Experience of fieldwork with seabirds and a bird ringing permit are highly desirable. Contact Bob Furness with a CV, names and email addresses of two referees and email/letter explaining why you are interested r.furness@bio.gla.ac.uk Prof. R.W. Furness, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ.
Further details: see http://www.gla.ac.uk:443/ibls/staff/staff.php?who=PeQndP (click on Research interests)
and http://www.gla.ac.uk/ibls/GradSchool/gradstudentships.html
References: Votier, Furness et al. 2004 Nature 427, 727-730; Votier, Bearhop et al. 2004 J. Appl. Ecol. 41: 1117-1128; Quillfeldt, McGill & Furness 2005 Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 295, 295-304; Davis, Nager & Furness 2005 Ecology 86, 1047-1056; Oro, de Leon, Minguez & Furness 2005 J. Zool. 265, 421-429; Votier, Crane et al. 2005 J. Orn. DOI 10.1007/S10336-005-0021-9; Oro & Furness 2002 Ecology 83, 2516-2528.