POSITION AVAILABLE: Postdoctoral Associate PROJECT TITLE: Biodiversity at the boundary: the response of birds to land use change in and near protected areas across the conterminous U.S.
Overview: A 3-yr position is available for a postdoctoral associate to join an interdisciplinary research team examining the effects of human land use intensification near the boundary of protected areas on avian biodiversity. The position will be housed at the Silvis laboratory of Drs. Anna Pidgeon and Volker Radeloff, Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Protected lands in general, and National Forest System lands in particular, are critical to sustaining our biological heritage. However, protected lands are also an amenity that attracts development, and housing growth in and near National Forests, National Parks, and Wilderness Areas exceeds high national housing growth rates (Radeloff et al. 2010, PNAS). Although protected lands form a vital component of most regional strategies to conserve biodiversity, there has been little effort directed at understanding the proximity effects of private land use intensification on the capacity for protected land to maintain their conservation value. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the project the successful candidate will be given the opportunity to work with members of the research team for extended periods in Fort Collins, CO (Dr. Curt Flather, Rocky Mountain Research Station) and Evanston, IL (Dr. Susan Stewart, Northern Research Station). Additional information about our ongoing research can be found on the following web pages: http://silvis.forest.wisc.edu/silvis.asp; http://www.fs.fed.us/rmrs/profiles/?last=Flather&first=Curtis+H ; http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/people/Stewart. Qualifications: Applicants must have completed a Ph.D. in ecology or a related field prior to appointment. Candidates should have a strong background in spatial/landscape ecology; intimate working knowledge of GIS; and strong quantitative skills, particularly in the area of generalized linear modeling. Experience in the compilation and analysis of geographically large data sets will be viewed as an asset. We especially encourage candidates who work well in a collaborative setting and have excellent communication and writing skills. A start date in Feburary or earlier is preferred, but is open to negotation. To apply: Candidates should send a cover letter summarizing there research interests, a CV, a sample of representative publications, and the contact information for three references. Review of applicants will begin immediately; position will remain open until a suitable candidate is found. All application received on or before November 15th 2010 are guaranteed consideration. Application packages (emailed as a single PDF file) should be sent to ([email protected] and [email protected])
