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PhD Research Project: Why do individuals differ in fitness? Quality differences and life-history tr

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
Jan 9, 2017

Job Details

Details

The concept of life-history trade-offs is central to ecology and evolution. The main reason that life-history trade-offs have not been readily detected when studying individuals within populations is, most probably, because they are confounded by variation in individual phenotypic quality. There is now widespread consensus that quality differences (of genetic or environmental origin) among individuals contribute substantially to the variation we see in natural populations. Individuals are expected to adopt the best strategy relative to their own situation – maximising their individual fitness by making “the best of a bad job”. We, therefore, predict that individuals of different quality will adopt different strategies and/or face alternative trade-offs. In such a scenario, alternative strategies could have the same lifetime fitness, or represent alternative conditional strategies with differences in fitness. While the growing appreciation of quality contributing to the variation we see amongst individuals is important, we still lack an understanding of its importance in life-history evolution. This project will address the following questions: Do individuals optimise their behaviour towards their current resources only and do this plasticity constrain or accelerate life-history evolution? What is the genetic basis of individual optimisation? And, most importantly, do different life-history strategies have the same fitness outcomes or are they the outcome of a best-of-a-bad job strategy due to quality differences?

These questions can only be resolved in a study system in which there is detailed information both on the strategies adopted by individuals over their entire lifetimes and their consequent lifetime fitness. Our long-term study of house sparrows on Lundy Island is almost unique in providing the data needed for such a study. Lundy acts as a natural laboratory where, unusually, there is almost no dispersal so that, through a combination of intensive monitoring and DNA profiling, we know when every individual dies or reproduces, and the fates of all its offspring. The study was begun in the 1990s so there is now a very substantial multi-generational dataset, enabling powerful data analysis.
The project will involve fieldwork, molecular parentage analysis and statistical modelling. It would suit a student who wishes to combine a significant amount of fieldwork on avian behavioural ecology with both some molecular work and a substantial component of the statistical analysis.

Funding Notes

Fully funded for a minimum of 3.5 years, studentships cover: (i) a tax-free stipend at the standard Research Council rate (at least £14,296 per annum for 2017-2018), (ii) research costs, and (iii) tuition fees at the UK/EU rate. Studentship(s) are available to UK and EU students who meet the UK residency requirements. Students from EU countries who do not meet residency requirements may still be eligible for a fees-only award.

References

This Ph.D. project is part of the NERC funded Doctoral Training Partnership ACCE (Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment). ACCE DTP is a partnership between the Universities of Sheffield, Liverpool, York and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.
Selection process: Shortlisting will take place as soon as possible after the closing date and successful applicants will be notified promptly. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview to take place at the University of Sheffield the w/c 13th February 2017.

Company

Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.

"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."

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