We are looking for a motivated PhD candidate to work on the project FUNCTIONAL DIVERSITY OF VERTEBRATES AND HUMAN USES: LINKS BETWEEN FUNCTIONAL TRAITS, HUMAN USES AND BIODIVERSITY CRISIS
If you are interested, contact us here
Where ?
Centre for Research in Biodiversity and Environment (CRBE), University of Toulouse, France.
With who ?
She/he will be supervised by myself and Pr. Sébastien Brosse from University of Toulouse 3 - Paul Sabatier.
Financial support
The PhD candidate will apply for a PhD fellowship from the doctoral school SEVAB. If succeed, the PhD candidate will be funded for a period of 3 years.
Profile of the candidate
We are looking for a candidate with a Master’s degree in ecology, evolutionary biology, or related fields. The candidate should have a strong background in functional ecology, community ecology, and/or macroecology. The candidate should have experience in statistical analyses and programming (R, Python). The candidate should have good communication skills and be fluent in French (optional) and English.
Project description
Understanding the ecological role of species within their ecosystems is a central pillar of functional ecology. In particular, this discipline relies on the analysis of functional traits - morphological, physiological or phenological attributes that can be measured at the individual level - to assess the responses of organisms to their environment and their contributions to ecosystem processes (Violle et al. 2007). Analysis of global trait databases has shown that certain ecological strategies are shared by many species, reflecting evolutionary and ecological constraints, while few species possess unique combinations of traits (Carmona et al. 2021; Toussaint et al. 2021). These analyses have also revealed that species with particular values of traits, such as large body size, late reproduction and/or low fecundity rate, are at higher risk of extinction. Around 15,000 vertebrate species are exploited by humans across the world for a variety of purposes, including food, domestication and activities such as hunting and sport fishing (Darimont et al. 2023). These human interactions not only highlight the importance of the ecosystem services provided by these species, but also exacerbate the anthropogenic pressures to which they are subject, with almost 40% of them threatened with extinction (Darimont et al. 2023; IUCN 2020). Conversely, human uses can also favour the species concerned, which can then become invasive (Li et al. 2023). Determining the functional role of these species of interest to humans and their potential impact on native communities (e.g. Toussaint et al. 2024) is crucial to tackle the current decline in biodiversity. Despite the recognition of these issues, there is still a lack of studies exploring the diversity of functional traits of vertebrate species used by humans; a gap that limits our understanding of human preferences for particular ecological strategies. In the current context of global change, understanding the functional role of these species is essential to guide conservation strategies, which must take account not only of the role of species in ecosystems but also of their societal importance, in order to promote sustainable coexistence between biodiversity and human societies.