Forest Restoration Impacts on Wild Turkeys: M.S. or Ph.D. Assistantship: Baton Rouge, Louisiana and west-central Louisiana

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Agency

Louisiana State University

Location

Baton Rouge, Louisiana and west-central Louisiana

Job Category

Graduate Assistantships

Salary

24000 (MS)/$28000(PhD) + full tuition and fee waiver

Start Date

01/01/2023

Last Date to Apply

10/01/2022

Website

https://www.lsu.edu/rnr/people/profiles/collier.php

Description

The School of Renewable Natural Resources at Louisiana State University is soliciting applications for an upcoming M.S. or Ph.D. graduate research assistantship focused on linking forest restoration and management activities to habitat use, movement ecology, and demography of Eastern wild turkeys in Louisiana. Project field work will be on study sites in west-central Louisiana centered on the Kisatchie National Forest, Fort Polk and adjacent areas. Graduate field research will broadly focus on evaluating Eastern wild turkey response to a suite of restoration activities undertaken by the United States Forest Service and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in response to forest damage from Hurricane Laura in 2020. Evaluation of restoration activities will benefit from 7 years of pre-impact and a subsequent 6 years of post-impact/restoration data collection from GPS tagged male and female Eastern wild turkeys within the impact region, including non-impacted local control sites. The position includes salary, full tuition and fee waiver, as well as housing throughout the field season provided at no cost. Applicants must have a B.S./M.S. in wildlife ecology, biology, mathematics, or related field. Individuals with experience and/or education in geospatial technology are encouraged to apply. Specific questions can be sent to bret(at)lsu.edu .

Qualifications

(a) Competitive GPA (>3.5) and GRE scores (or M.S. for Ph.D. applicants), and the applicant must meet the entrance requirements for the School of Renewable Natural Resources at Louisiana State University (b) experience that includes wildlife capture, tagging, and radio-telemetry and habitat sampling (c) background in wildlife ecology, undergraduate experience in quantitative, writing, and oral communication skills are preferred. The successful applicant should have exposure with languages commonly used for statistical and scientific applications (e.g., R/S), experience with capture-recapture modeling/applications (e.g., MARK) and/or experience with geospatial software (e.g., ArcMap, QGIS, R/S). (d) strong professional and interpersonal skills as regular interaction with LSU, USFS, and LDWF personnel, landowners, other state agency personnel, and other interested stakeholders will regularly occur. Applications will be accepted until a candidate is selected with a deadline of 1 October 2022. I expect the students to begin initiate field work in January 2023 and start graduate coursework in the fall of 2023. Applicants should send (via email as a single .pdf) a cover letter that details their relative experience and qualifications for the project, a CV, unofficial copies of transcripts and GRE scores, as well as contact information for at least 3 professional academic references to Dr. Bret Collier, School of Renewable Natural Resources, Rm 227 Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803. e-mail: bret(at)lsu.edu with questions.

Contact Person

Bret Collier

Contact eMail

[email protected]

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