Missions

As part of the ANR ECOPATHS programme, the post-doctoral student will work on biosafety and the management of infectious diseases in island ecosystems in the southern polar zone, using an approach at the interface between social anthropology and the ecology of infectious diseases. The aim will be to look at how these issues are perceived by different stakeholders and different audiences.

Activités

Main activities:
- Implementing surveys on the subject matter
- Presentation and discussion of results with project partners
- Writing scientific articles to disseminate results to the scientific community
- Contributing to interactions with stakeholders on the issue of biosafety and the management of infectious diseases in the island ecosystems of the southern seas.
Secondary activity:
- Participation in workshops and conferences

Compétences

- PhD in ecology, anthropology or geography.
- A taste for interdisciplinary approaches at the interface between ecology and the social sciences
- Interest in the ecology of infectious diseases and the conservation of biodiversity
- Knowledge of polar environments
- Mastery of data acquisition and management tools in ecology or anthropology
- Ability to work in a team

Contexte de travail

The work will be carried out at the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale (UMR 7130 CNRS/Collège de France/EHESS/EPHE) and the Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (UMR 5175 CNRS/Université Montpellier/IRD/EPHE), partners in the ANR ECOPATHS project on the ecology of the circulation of infectious agents in populations of marine vertebrates in the Southern Territories. The main models considered are seabirds (albatrosses, penguins, petrels, wrasses) and marine mammals (elephant seals, fur seals) in the southern hemisphere, interacting with infectious agents such as the Pasteurella multocida bacterium, responsible for avian cholera, and avian influenza viruses.
Founded in 1960 by Claude Lévi-Strauss, the Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale has always had a generalist vocation, and all the major themes of ethnology and social anthropology are dealt with there. Its research covers most regions of the globe, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, South and North America, Australia, Oceania and India.
Created in 1961, the Centre d'Etudes Phytosociologiques et Ecologiques (CEPE), a CNRS research unit, became the Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) in 1987. The CEFE is one of the largest ecological research laboratories in France. The CEFE's project aims to understand the dynamics, functioning and evolution of living organisms.
The work will involve interaction with members of the ANR ECOPATHS and IPEV ECOPATH projects, carrying out work in the laboratory after data and sample acquisition missions in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
Summary of the ANR ECOPATHS project 'Ecology of the circulation of infectious agents in colonial vertebrate populations: monitoring, understanding and implications for biodiversity conservation in the sub-Antarctic islands':
Understanding the factors affecting the transmission and effects of pathogens in wild animal populations is important from both a fundamental and applied point of view, particularly in the current context of global change and the emergence of infectious diseases. Various tools can be used to monitor, understand and respond to the emergence of infectious diseases. We propose to integrate biomedical and molecular epidemiology approaches with ecology, conservation biology and human sciences to do this. Drawing on a consortium with strong complementary expertise in these fields and on the unique situation of the southern lands (Kerguelen, Crozet and Amsterdam archipelagos), where threatened populations of colonial marine vertebrates (albatrosses, penguins, sea lions) reproduce in simple, structured communities, we are testing key hypotheses concerning the processes affecting the eco-epidemiological dynamics at play and their implications.
The first part of the project will explore how infectious agents are shared between populations of colonial vertebrates in the southern hemisphere on a hierarchy of spatial scales. In particular, the value of using scavenger and predator species as epidemiological sentinels and their potential role in the dissemination of infectious agents will be studied. A second area of research will focus on the specific situation on the island of Amsterdam, where recurrent epizootics of avian cholera are responsible for massive deaths of threatened albatross and penguin chicks, and where an original management approach involving the vaccination of breeding albatross females to protect their chicks will be tested. Such an approach is currently limited by the presence of introduced species, which are responsible for some of the morbidity, either directly or indirectly via their effect on disease transmission. This part of the project will benefit from the exceptional situation of the eradication plan for introduced mammal species set up by the Terres Australes National Nature Reserve and funded independently of the project by the European Community.
The eradication was implemented in 2024, and coordination with the Southern Territories Reserve will enable us to take full advantage of these exceptional conditions, while also drawing on the logistical support of the French Polar Institute (IPEV) 1151 project, set up in 2015 by the ECOPATHS project coordinator. A third strand will combine modelling and social anthropology approaches to gain a better understanding of the risks of disease emergence in this type of ecosystem and the means of managing them. The project benefits from involving a consortium of partners and collaborators with broad and complementary skills. It is based on the use of samples and access to field sites made possible by a multi-year project supported by the IPEV. The results are likely to have fundamental and applied implications and a strong impact.

Contraintes et risques

Constraints and risks: none. Work shared between the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Sociale (Paris) and the Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (Montpellier).