Missions

Graphab is a graph-based software to model the connectivity of ecological habitats. It offers great flexibility of use but remains limited by the principle of least cost used to represent population flows. An advanced version currently under development integrates a simulation module intended to replace cost distances with individual displacement simulations. In this context, the project aims to test the configuration of the simulation module to identify the values that lead to plausible results compared to real movements.

Activities

The activities planned to fulfill the missions are as follows:
• mobilizing movement databases, such as Movebank, to extract and prepare datasets (species and regions to be defined)
• implement a generic land use map in the region concerned
• design a protocol to compare the results with the actual trajectories
• explore the simulation parameters and identify the most realistic combinations
• based on the analyses carried out, managing publication projects in international journals

Skills

The candidate must hold a thesis in ecology, with if possible a specialization in movement ecology. A good command of geographical information, spatial and statistical analyses, and scientific English will be appreciated.

Work Context

The post-doctoral work will be supervised by Jean-Christophe Foltête, Gilles Vuidel and Paul Savary. It will also benefit from the financial and scientific support of the Graphab group. The main workplace will be the ThéMA laboratory (Mégevand Campus of the UMLP, Besançon).