FULLY FUNDED PROJECT - The conservation ecology of rare freshwater fish

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Vendace (Coregonus albula) is the UK's rarest freshwater fish and is thus of high conservation value. Historically it was found in four lakes in the UK but currently only one natural population remains in the Derwent Water. To conserve the species, management action was undertaken in 1986 which included efforts to establish new vendace populations in selected sites (‘conservation refuge’ sites) through translocation.

The aim of this project is to gain an understanding of the populations of the vendace in its native and translocation sites, including the potential for population recruitment through spawning. The project will provide important information on the origin and uniqueness of the two remaining original vendace populations and provide a genetic assessment of effective population size. Another focus will be on assessing the efficacy of different population assessment methods; comparing traditional methods with eDNA sampling and developing and expanding methods for hydroacoustic data processing and interpretation. There is also scope for the successful candidate to develop the project to match their own research interests.

The project will include field sampling and laboratory work and covers a variety of techniques such as traditional capture methods (gill netting), hydroacoustics surveys, ROV surveys, and eDNA sampling. 

The project will be a collaboration between University of Glasgow, Natural England, Environment Agency, NatureScot and University of Highlands & Islands.

The successful candidate will be based at the University of Glasgow’s field station SCENE on Loch Lomond

https://www.gla.ac.uk/researchinstitutes/bahcm/facilities/scene/

For more details and any informal queries please contact Prof. Colin Adams at [Email Address Removed].