The department of Coastal Systems (COS) at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) is looking for a highly motivated Postdoc. The department offesr a postdoctoral position for 3 years on movement and spatial ecology of shorebirds under the supervision of Dr. Allert Bijleveld. This project is part of ongoing research on understanding how individual differences, sociality and the distribution of resources affect movement and spatial distributions of the shorebird community in the Dutch Wadden Sea.

The project:

The Wadden Sea is a UNESCO world heritage site that provides essential habitat to many migratory and resident shorebirds, such as Red knots, Curlew, Sanderling, and Dunlin.

To track shorebirds in the Dutch Wadden Sea, NIOZ have deployed the novel high-resolution tracking system WATLAS. Since 2017, the institute have tracked almost 2,000 individual shorebirds of different species with a position fix every 1 to 8 seconds for a duration of 2-8 months each year. Recently, they received funding to expand the WATLAS system from the western to the entire Dutch Wadden Sea. In the coming years, we aim to track 300 individuals of different species annually.

The aim of this postdoc project is to understand the movement and spatial distribution of shorebirds within their dynamic intertidal habitat in the broadest sense. The goals and topics will depend on the candidate’s interests as well. They can, for instance, investigate movement and habitat use for one or multiple species, as we recently began to track many species simultaneously. This provides the postdoc an opportunity to study community movement ecology and niche differentiation.

Besides analysing existing data and writing manuscripts, the successful candidate will help keep the WATLAS tracking system operational and do field work. This will include sailing with the RV Wim Wolff to deploy receiver stations on the mudflats of the Wadden Sea and catching and tagging birds on the uninhabited island of Griend.

Job requirements:

Applicants must have a PhD degree at the start of this position. A background in animal behaviour and/or ecology, experience with handling large data sets, and the analysis of animal movement data are required. Because the successful candidate will have large amounts of tracking data available, strong statistical, analytical and computational skills are critical.

Practical experience with field work is advantageous, but not necessary. The successful candidate is also expected to have good collaborative skills and proven abilities to publish and present at a high international level.

The candidate can start as soon as possible and preferably before summer 2024.

How to apply:

Interested applicants should submit a CV, names and contact information for 3 references, and a cover letter. The cover letter should include (1) a summary of the applicant’s research so far and (2) their experience with the analyses of movement and spatial data, and (3) 1-3 research questions and approaches that the applicant would like to pursue with the WATLAS tracking data.