PhD Candidate in Macroecology

Are you interested in how humans have altered global patterns of animal behaviour? As a PhD candidate, you will explore how animals modify their movement patterns in response to multiple human disturbances. You will contribute to our understanding of the impacts and consequences of human activities on animal behaviour and populations.

Animal movement is an important process determining the fate of individuals and shaping the structure and dynamics of populations and ecosystem processes. With human activities modifying landscapes globally, the way in which animals interact with their environment is also changing. Previous work has found that mammals living in human-modified landscapes may alter movement and energetic expenditure, with potential consequences for populations and ecosystem processes. It is therefore important to quantify how animals modify their movement in response to humans.

The aim of this PhD project is to examine the differences in movement behaviour between mammal species, how human pressures impact animal movement and the consequences thereof for animal populations. This will involve the analysis of empirical animal movement data, remote sensing data and species traits in order to explore mammal movement patterns from individuals to species. Understanding this is important for building a solid knowledge foundation of how humans impact animal behaviour, and also provides vital information for examining the consequences of these impacts for animal populations and ecosystems.

Besides your research, you will have a standard teaching load of 10%. Radboud University will give you the opportunity to extend the 4-year PhD period by another year to be more substantially engaged in teaching during the whole period, leading up to the acquisition of a university teaching certificate (BKO).