Supplementary feeding, life-history and population dynamics: quantitative assessment of conservation strategies for red-billed choughs.

Project description: Successful conservation of wildlife populations requires effective integration of science and management policy where i) scientific understanding of ecological and demographic drivers of population change is used to plan and implement management; ii) impacts of resulting management on population ecology, demography and dynamics are quantified; iii) resulting evidence is used to plan subsequent management. Such integration is rarely achieved, not least because high-quality data quantifying short-term and longer-term impacts of management are rarely collected or rigorously analysed, restricting the evidence-base on which future policy can be formulated.

In this project, the student will work alongside population ecologists and conservation managers and practitioners to evaluate effects of a key management intervention, supplementary feeding, on a red-billed chough population of conservation concern, and to use resulting evidence to decide conservation policy.

Provision of supplementary food is a key tool for conservation of food-limited populations. However, although vertebrate population dynamics are commonly constrained by low sub-adult survival and adult survival, supplementary feeding programmes often focus on increasing breeding success by feeding breeding adults or their dependent offspring. Few formal experiments or management interventions have fed sub-adults (i.e. fully grown individuals that have not yet started breeding), or evaluated short-term effects of feeding on sub-adult survival. Further, few studies have quantified longer-term effects of feeding sub-adults on dispersal, age at first breeding or subsequent reproduction. Consequently, no studies have quantified overall effects of supplementary feeding of sub-adults on population growth rate or hence fully evaluated the conservation benefits.

Scotland’s remaining chough population is limited to the islands of Islay and Colonsay. Analyses of demographic data collected during 1983-2009 showed that decreases in chough population size largely reflect high sub-adult mortality. Sub-adult mortality was particularly high during 2007-2009, threatening population viability. Consequently, a subset of sub-adults on Islay were/will be provided with supplementary food during July-April 2010-2018. Detailed colour-ring resighting and nest monitoring data are being collected, meaning that survival, dispersal and reproduction of fed and unfed individuals can be quantified.

The PhD project will have four primary objectives. First, the PhD student will use the multi-year dataset to quantify effects of supplementary feeding of sub-adults on multiple aspects of demography using Before-After-Control-Impact (BACI) analyses encompassing 1983-2019. Second, they will undertake fieldwork on Islay to identify remaining different sources of sub-adult mortality. Third, they will build and analyse population dynamic models to quantify effects of supplementary feeding on population growth rate. Fourth, they will work with conservation managers and practitioners from Scottish Natural Heritage and Scottish Chough Study Group to decide future conservation policy.

The project will involve sophisticated statistical analyses of long-term demographic data and population dynamic modelling, fieldwork on Islay, and placements with Scottish Natural Heritage. The student will receive extensive training in statistics, demographic data analysis, population modelling and fieldwork, and broad experience of working at the science-conservation policy interface, with substantial opportunities for the student to inject their own ideas. The project would suit a student with interests in population and conservation ecology and enthusiasm for learning and applying rigorous quantitative approaches to these topics. Applicants must also have excellent inter-personal and communication abilities, and enthusiasm to communicate their science to conservation policy-makers and practitioners.

The student will be based in Professor Jane Reid’s group in the Institute of Biological & Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen (https://www.abdn.ac.uk/ibes/people/profiles/jane.reid). This institute holds considerable expertise in population, evolutionary and conservation ecology, with emphasis on applying rigorous quantitative analyses to inform conservation policy. The student will receive excellent holistic scientific training, will work within a dynamic group of students and early-career researchers, all embedded within the wonderful broader natural environment surrounding Aberdeen.

Please contact Jane Reid for further details ([Email Address Removed]).

Please apply for admission to the ’Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Science’ to ensure that your application is passed to the correct college for processing.
Please provide a copy of the degree certificate and transcript for each previous degree undertaken, a copy of your English language proficiency certificate (if relevant), and contact details of two referees who can comment on your previous academic performance (at least one should be from your current degree programme). References will be requested if you are selected for interview. Incomplete applications will not be considered.