Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC (EBD)

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Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC (EBD) Address: Calle Americo Vespucio, s/n, 41092, Isla de la Cartuja, Sevilla Doñana Biological Station is a public research institute belonging to the Consejo

Our primary mission is to carry out multidisciplinary research at the highest level, directed at understanding, from an evolutionary point of view, how biodiversity is generated, how it is maintained

1 Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC (EBD) Address: Calle Americo Vespucio, s/n, 41092, Isla de la Cartuja, Sevilla Doñana Biological Station is a public research institute belonging to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) within the area of Natural Resources. Our primary mission is to carry out multidisciplinary research at the highest level, directed at understanding, from an evolutionary point of view, how biodiversity is generated, how it is maintained and damaged, in addition to the consequences of its loss and the chances of their preservation and restoration. Furthermore, we also promote the transfer of knowledge to society. The Institute consists of a main building in Seville and two field stations, the ICTS Doñana Biological Reserve (Doñana Natural Area, Almonte, Huelva) and Roblehondo Field Station (Parque Natural de las Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas). EBD are seeking graduates in areas such as animal behaviour, zoology, plant biology, biology, ecology or related fields to carry out a 13-week placement beginning mid January based at their premises in Seville. There are positions available for the projects listed below. Spanish is not necessary as all supervisors have a good level of English. List of projects: 1. Project Horus Falco 2. The effects of fire on ants and other arthropods: A study on different depths 3. Pollinator responses to global change and its implications for ecosystem function 4. Seasonal Isotopic Variation in a Plant-Insect-Bat Food Chain: Diet or Climate Changes? 5. Stable isotopes in hair of wild horses as record of environmental change 6. Long-distance movements of large body-sized vultures in changing environments: rewilding scenarios in the Iberian Peninsula 7. Individual components of foraging strategies and space use in an insular population of Egyptian vultures 8. Sentinels of the seas: seabirds as biomonitors of climate and human impacts on the Earth s oceans 9. Capacity of organisms to influence their own evolution: Fruitflies adapting to changing habitats Please note: Project 9 is supervised by an EBD researcher but takes place at the University of Pablo de Olavide.

2 1. Project Horus Falco Behavioural analysis of the incubation of the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) via video sequences (The lesser kestrel and global change: applying new technologies to the remote monitoring of an endangered species) Analysis of the temporal pattern of incubation, the role of sexes, the laying and hatching pattern, the relationship between the incubation behaviour and successful reproduction. The intern will go out on field trips in order to be able to see the lesser kestrel and Hermit Ibis in their natural habitat. This will involve using CyberTracker software. Dr. Javier Bustamante Website: 2. The effects of fire on ants and other arthropods: A study on different depths This project relates to a doctoral thesis on The effects of fire on ants and other arthropods: A study on different depths at the Department of Ethology and Biodiversity Conservation of the EBD-CSIC. The project began in September 2014 with a Severo Ochoa-La Caixa contract and under the supervision of Xim Cerdá (researcher at EBD-CSIC) and Raphäel Boulay (researcher at Institut de Recherches sur la Biologie de l Insecte, France). The project will analyze the consequences of fire on four groups of epigeal and aerial arthropods (ants, beetles, spiders and bees) often used as bioindicators for ecosystem recovery. The aim of the thesis is to understand how species, communities and ecosystems respond to environmental changes caused by fire. We will do so by studying its effects on: (1) Patterns of abundance, richness and biodiversity of ants, beetles, spiders and bees (2) functional diversity of ants, beetles, spiders and bees (3) populations genetics in the communities of ants (4) the dominance relationships in the communities of ants (5) the use of trophic resources by ants and (6) the temperature resistance in ants. - Literature review - Search features of the history of life in the literature - Computerize data - Separation and classification of the extracted material in the field - Determination of ants, beetles, spiders and bees * basic knowledge in entomology is needed. José Manuel Vidal Website:

3 3. Pollinator responses to global change and its implications for ecosystem function Land-use change, along with other human-induced global change drivers, are accelerating the rates of extinction of most taxa. Researchers are beginning to experimentally investigate how these changes in biodiversity affect ecosystem services, such as water purification, climate regulation, and food production, but do not yet understand the effects of species loss in real ecosystems. Pollination is a critical ecosystem service and relies upon multiple species of pollinators. This project aims to understand the threats to the pollinator species that provide this critical ecosystem function and assess the consequences of their decline in real ecosystems. The student will help to collect data in plant pollinator interactions in natural communities in southern Spain along a disturbance gradient. The main tasks involve field work where the student will learn how to identify the principal pollinator groups, and how to capture and prepare the samples. The student will also learn modern pollination techniques, like assessing visitation efficiency by counting pollen tubes at the microscope. The data collected will contribute to understanding how the network of interactions between plants and pollinators changes from pristine sites in Doñana National Park to highly disturbed sites. Ignasi Bartoneus Website: 4. Seasonal Isotopic Variation in a Plant-Insect-Bat Food Chain: Diet or Climate Changes? Ecological research is often concerned with trophic interactions ( who eats whom ) and how these interactions change through time. Stable isotope analysis is a fundamental method in ecology because it allows tracking the food sources and the movements of an animal. However, recent research by the host scientist (Popa-Lisseanu et al. 2015, PLoS ONE 10(2): e ) has shown that isotopic variation in animals can also reflect climatic changes, thus complicating the evaluation of trophic relationships and movement patterns. There are several mechanisms through which climatic variation could drive isotopic variation in animals. First, physiological condition could affect the way that isotopes from food are incorporated into the animal s tissues, and physiological condition often tends to follow climatic cycles. A more straightforward explanation, however, is that climatic variation, particularly water stress, affects the way that plants regulate nutrient uptake and subsequently influences plants isotopic values. As a consequence, plants isotopic values change seasonally, and these temporal changes are passed on from plants to herbivores, from herbivores to carnivores, and so on, therefore being mirrored by all members of the ecosystems, with a certain time lag between them. By investigating simultaneously climatic variables and isotopic values at different trophic levels, the project within which this internship is offered tests the hypothesis that climatic variation creates ecosystem isotopic baselines that propagate up the food chain. The results of the project are expected to improve the field of stable isotope ecology by showing how to correct isotopic data for environmental variation, and will therefore allow much more accurate estimates on dietary inputs and movement patterns of organisms. The study is being conducted in the Doñana National Park.

4 This protected area located in southwest Spain is one of Europe s largest and most important wetland reserves and comprises many different biotopes at the interface between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The model food chain selected for this research is the one composed by plants, insects and the soprano pipistrelle bat, Pipistrellus pygmaeus. Plant material, insects and skin tissue samples of bats are collected at weekly or biweekly intervals to investigate temporal variation within and across trophic levels. The intern will have the opportunity to participate in research at Spain s leading institution in terrestrial ecological research, to learn basic procedures and instrumentation common to many different laboratories and to gain insight into stable isotope analysis, a method widely applied in many fields of basic and applied research, not only in ecology, but also food health, anthropology, migration research, climate research, forensics and criminalistics, among others. He/she will also have the opportunity to assist in field work in Doñana National Park. Perform sample preparation for stable isotope analysis of plant, insect, and bat skin samples at the stable isotope laboratory (LIE) of the Doñana Biological Station in Seville: washing, drying, grinding and fine weighing of samples to target weight, mounting samples in tin/silver capsules and organizing them into trays Occasionally assist in field work in the Doñana National Park Enter data into the computer Requirements The candidate must feel comfortable working in a laboratory. Good hand and eye coordination, attention to detail, and patience are essential since the samples handled are minute and the lab procedures are laborious. Flexibility in working schedule is necessary to accommodate to lab equipment availability times. Good organizational skills and the ability to work independently are also required. Ana García Popa-Lisseanu, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow, Andalucía Talent Hub fellowship (Funded by the EU 7th Framework Program, Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions, and Junta de Andalucía) Department of Evolutionary Ecology Other project members Detlev Kelm, PhD Carlos Ibáñez, PhD

5 5. Stable isotopes in hair of wild horses as record of environmental change In ecological research, the stable isotope composition of animal tissues is commonly used to trace wildlife diets, analyze food chains and investigate movement ecology. Additionally, temporal changes in tissue isotope values have been used to track climate changes over large temporal scales. Recent research by the host scientist (Popa-Lisseanu et al. 2015, PLoS ONE 10(2): e ) has suggested that isotopic variation in animals could also reflect climatic changes over short seasonal scales, thus potentially complicating the evaluation of trophic relationships and movement patterns. Stable isotope values in terrestrial herbivores, in particular, have been shown to correlate negatively with climate over geographical gradients. It has been debated whether this is a result of a physiological response of animals to water stress in arid regions, or merely a reflection of a relationship between environmental conditions and the isotopic values in the plants that herbivores feed upon. The latter hypothesis has received the most compelling evidence so far. Whether shortscale climate variation also correlates with changes in herbivore isotope values in regions with high climatic seasonality has not been sufficiently investigated. Understanding which factors drive isotopic variation in organisms is crucial, however, to make correct interpretations on feeding ecology and movement patterns of organisms. Animal hair that has continuous growth, such as mane and tail hair in horses, offers an excellent opportunity to record temporal isotopic changes. The Doñana National Park in Southern Spain hosts a population of feral horses that roam freely and feed on the natural vegetation the whole year round. We are investigating how seasonal variation in stable isotopes of mane hair relate to isotopic values of plant dietary sources and to environmental changes. We have collected horse mane hair grown over one year, during which we collected local plant material in biweekly intervals. The samples are being analyzed at the stable isotope laboratory (LIE) of the Doñana Biological Station. The job of the intern will be to prepare plant and horse hair samples for stable isotope analysis. The intern will have the opportunity to participate in research at Spain s leading institution in terrestrial ecological research, to learn basic procedures and instrumentation common to many different laboratories and to gain insight into stable isotope analysis, a method widely applied in many fields of basic and applied research, not only in ecology, but also food health, anthropology, migration research, climate research, forensics and criminalistics, among others. He/she will also have the opportunity to visit the charismatic Doñana National Park and occasionally assist in field work. Perform sample preparation for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of horse hair samples: cutting hairs in chronologically-grown 1-mm sections, washing, drying, fine weighing, and mounting of samples in tin capsules and organizing them into trays Perform sample preparation for stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of plant samples: measuring, drying, milling, fine weighing, and mounting of samples in tin capsules and organizing them into trays Data entry Occasionally assist in field work in the Doñana National Park (e.g. plant sampling)

6 Requirements The candidate must feel comfortable working in a laboratory. Good hand and eye coordination, attention to detail, and patience are essential since the samples handled are minute and the lab procedures are laborious. Flexibility in working schedule is necessary to accommodate to lab equipment availability times. Good organizational skills and the ability to work independently are also required. Ana García Popa-Lisseanu, PhD Other project members Detlev Kelm, PhD Carlos Ibáñez, PhD 6. Long-distance movements of large body-sized vultures in changing environments: rewilding scenarios in the Iberian Peninsula Task: Analysis of GPS and acellerometer data of griffon vultures (n=60) in two regions of Spain in relation to food resource distribution: livestock and wild ungulates. s: José Antonio Donázar Ainara Cortes 7. Individual components of foraging strategies and space use in an insular population of Egyptian vultures Tasks Analysis of behavioural patterns and determination of personality traits of GPS-marked individuals (n=47) in relation to resource distribution (food and roosting sites). Analyses of stable isotopes. s José Antonio Donázar Ainara Cortes (ainara@ebd.csic.es)

7 8. Sentinels of the seas: seabirds as biomonitors of climate and human impacts on the Earth s oceans There is virtually no part of the environment that we have left unchanged. Oceanic systems are, however, of particular concern since they are the most complex, hardest to study and least understood of Earth s biomes. Despite the undeniable progress in our comprehension and description of the spatio-temporal patterns of environmental stressors affecting the Earth s oceans, considerable efforts are still required to understand and anticipate the impact of environmental variability on marine communities. For instance, little is known about the potential interactions between environmental stressors that may exacerbate deleterious effects on marine communities, which, in turn, may respond differentially to analogous changes in environmental conditions. Further, climate and human impacts on marine communities may also vary spatially from the local to the regional scales according to the heterogeneous distribution of environmental stressors and fishing pressure. Accordingly, consequences of changing climatic variables and human activities should be expected to be species- and even site-specific. The actual impact of environmental stressors on biological communities remains to be evaluated, and is one of the major outstanding challenges in global change ecology. We hereby present a project proposal that will contribute to our understanding of the mechanistic processes underlying ecological responses to climate driven trophic disruptions. Anthropogenic driven climate fluctuations are known to result in phenological shifts, sometimes differently across species and trophic levels in marine food webs. This may lead to mismatches between functionally different components of marine ecosystems (temporal mismatching between resource availability and the energetic needs of consumers, i.e. trophic disruptions), with important effects on the ecosystem structure and functioning and on species performance. This is particularly true for Polar Regions, where species performance largely depends on their ability to adjust high energydemanding processes such as reproduction to the short seasonal pulses of food availability. As long as seasonal productivity patterns vary between years, the optimal timing of reproduction will also vary, with individuals breeding more successfully when energetic demands overlap extensively with peaks in food availability. Our ability to identify the feeding consequences (e.g. dietary shifts) of mismatching processes will clearly contribute to drawing firm conclusions about the putative role of food availability as a determinant of species fitness within the current context of global change. Dietary assessments are therefore crucial if we aim to fully address the ecological consequences of human and climate driven environmental changes. In this regard, the analysis of the isotopic composition of C (13C/12C, denoted as δ13c) and N (15N/14N; δ15n) in animals tissues represents a formidable addition to ecologist s toolbox. Typically, δ13c provide valuable information on main sources of primary production incorporated into trophic webs, while δ15n is widely considered as a reliable proxy to the trophic position occupied by target species. Thus, stable isotope determinations from samples collected for long-time periods in combination with estimates on long-term environmental changes and measurements on reproductive performance may provide, therefore, clue insights into the mechanistic processes (dietary changes) underlying reproductive consequences of mismatching processes. As a part of the long-term monitoring programs conducted by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS, UK) in the Antarctic region, seabirds blood and feather samples were periodically collected during the breeding periods for isotopic determinations. We offer potential applicants to join an ongoing research project leaded by BAS and EBD and aimed at analyzing the isotopic composition of feather samples from an entire Antarctic seabird community during different breeding periods. By combining these isotopic determinations with satellite remote-sensing records on key

8 oceanographic features, the applicant will also have the opportunity of interpreting potential dietary shifts as responses to environmental variability. Tasks The applicant will be involved in analytical procedures but also in the interpretation of obtained results, thus gaining experience in the key scientific fields of stable isotope and oceanographic remote sensing. Requirements We are looking for highly motivated applicants with interests in seabird ecology and global change, and, preferentially, with previous skills on statistical analyses (mainly using R) and the use of Geographic Information Systems. s Francisco Ramírez Manuela G. Forero 9. Capacity of organisms to influence their own evolution: Fruitflies adapting to changing habitats We are investigating the capacity of organisms to influence their own evolution by choosing habitats that provide a good match with their individual characteristics. We will first select populations of Fruitflies (Drosophila melanogaster) for their ability to choose the correct habitat type. We then expose these flies to novel habitats, and see how this influences their genetic structure, their competitive ability, and their mate choice. The successful candidate(s) will be based at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Tasks This project has space for 1 or 2 students who want to learn about: experimental design care for laboratory animals data management data analysis There is also the possibility to develop a personal side project with these flies. Pim Edelaar

Job Descriptions for Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD)

Job Descriptions for Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD) Organisation Details: Estación Biológica de Doñana CSIC (EBD) C/ Americo Vespucio, s/n, 41092, Isla de la Cartuja, Sevilla http://www.ebd.csic.es