A postdoctoral position is available in the lab of Dr. Alexander Lees in the Division of Biology & Conservation Ecology at Manchester Metropolitan University. This position is part of ongoing collaborative efforts to understand the relative roles of population, community, and landscape ecology in the conservation of Amazonian biodiversity, particularly its speciose avifauna. The overall objective is to understand how past and present land use influence species dispersal and diversity in varyingly fragmented and degraded tropical forest landscapes. The successful candidate will use a rich suite of landscape attribute, biodiversity occurrence and genetic/genomic data across south-east Amazonia to develop explanatory and predictive models of present and future avian distributions and hence create novel evidence-based vulnerability assessments. There is also the possibility of extending this work to the rest of the basin and elsewhere in the Neotropics.

The candidate will analyse and disseminate research findings through relevant high impact journals, conferences, and seminars, in order to further the institution’s standing in the HE and research community and contribute to the development of new areas in the field of landscape ecology. The candidate will take responsibility for leading part of the project, under the overall direction by the project co-ordinator and a team of collaborators from multiple institutions including Dr Alexandre Aleixo at the Finnish Museum of Natural History/Goeldi Museum and Prof. Jos Barlow at Lancaster University.

Specific objectives are to to build longitudinal species distribution models for multiple avian taxa which vary in their life histories and hence tolerance to habitat modification and which incorporate variation in avian dispersal based on trait data, in real Amazonian landscapes. Existing future land cover change scenarios will be used to model patterns of human impact and forecast future population persistence in these landscapes based on population genetic parameters. The avian responses to land cover data that underpin the research were collected under the auspices of the Sustainable Amazon Network and will be augmented with additional data from museum collections and citizen science initatives like eBird. Species-specific genetic and genomic data stem from ongoing work co-ordinated by the Goeldi Museum in Brazil.

The programme of work is ambitious and innovative, and the applicant will need to demonstrate knowledge and experience in the application of theory, statistics, and sampling methodologies, preferably in the context of spatial analysis of genetic and/or species distributional data. As such, applicants should hold a PhD in Landscape/Population Ecology, Genetics/Genomics, or a related area. Priority will be given to candidates with demonstrated expertise in population genetics, landscape ecology, population ecology and/or spatial modelling.

Applicants should have strong quantitative skills (ideally knowledge of Bayesian and frequentist statistical modelling techniques), experience with the collection and analysis of big data, and mentoring graduate and undergraduate students. Applicants must be willing to travel to Brazil for meetings or possibly fieldwork.

This is a 2 year fixed term contract.

How to apply: Please attach your CV and covering letter to the online portal.

For informal enquiries please contact Alexander.Lees@mmu.ac.uk