A sweet-looking post-doc position in New Caledonia: Mapping and assessing the status of the fish assemblage in the Caledonian lagoon by spatial integration of underwater video data and complementary observations. Coastal management is increasingly envisaged at large scales, e.g. territories, national coastlines, or ecoregions. In New Caledonia, most of the lagoons have been inscribed on the World Heritage List since 2008. The conservation of the exceptional ecological features that motivated this nomination has to be periodically demonstrated at the scale of the whole site. Such an evaluation requires the spatial integration of a number of ecological data obtained according to various protocols, raising the issue of their consistency and complementarity. This work will utilize a large number of data collected from underwater video techniques (mostly) and visual censuses in order to address three questions: 1) What is the most efficient approach to sampling autocorrelated data; 2) Are data obtained from distinct observation protocols consistent so that they can be jointly modeled? Which hypotheses are required to achieve an integration of these data? For this purpose, the post-doc will analyse the sources of variations in each data set, and study the complementarity of observation types with respect to taxa and to habitats; 3) How to integrate these data within a spatially-explicit approach at the scale of the territory? The study will focus on fish assemblages and associated habitats and account for spatial correlation in sampling. Integration will benefit from existing habitat maps, and may utilize additional high spatial resolution data. Key-words: Fish assemblage, habitat, New Caledonian lagoon, underwater video, statistical modelling, spatially-explicit modelling ############################# Initial training PhD in biostatistics, fisheries science or quantitative ecology Specific experience: Biostatistics (advanced level) Marine ecology Personal skills: Organization and rigour Interpersonal skills (work within a multidisciplinary project) Writing articles and reports ################## Position is for 18 months, starting in November 2014 Monthly wages are around 2900 euros, full social benefits are included + an additional 10% of overall wages at the end of the contract, consistently with French laws for short-term contracts After the contract, the post-doc is also eligible for unemployment benefits Position is in Noumea, New Caledonia, in Research Unit LEAD (Lagoons, Ecosystems and Sustainable Aquaculture) ################## Application is open until 8th September 2014 Documents required for application may be found at: wwz.ifremer.fr/institut_eng/Ifremer-careers/Research-grants/Call-for-candidates-for-the-2014-2015-post-doctoral-grants Applications should be sent to [email protected]
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 08:14:14 +0000
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