The Norwegian Polar Institute have a vacant postdoctoral position in marine ecology with a focus on seabird and prey interaction. The position is part of the SEATRACK program, which aims to map the year-round distribution of 16 seabird species in the North Atlantic and understand how changes in environmental conditions affect their demography and population trajectories. It is based on the use of light-level loggers to map and understand seabird movements outside the breeding season.

The program is funded by the Ministry of Climate and Environment, the Norwegian Environmental Agency, the Ministry of Energy, the Norwegian Coastal Administration and Offshore Norway, as well as 14 energy companies. It is led by the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) in collaboration with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA) and partners in 14 countries. For more information, see: https://seatrack.net.

This is a fixed termed position for 3 years in our section for terrestrial ecology and seabirds at NPI’s research department. The section carries out monitoring and research within the fields of terrestrial ecology and seabird ecology, with a focus on how changes in climate, environmental conditions and human activity affect plant, animal and bird populations in the Arctic and Antarctic.

The workplace will be Tromsø, Norway. The candidate will be part of a team of researchers from NPI and NINA and collaborate closely with other Norwegian and foreign researchers participating in the project. Some travel to meetings, workshops, and participation in fieldwork may be expected.

The primary focus of this postdoctoral position will be on the spatial and temporal interactions of North Atlantic seabirds, their potential prey species, and oceanographic conditions throughout the year. This research aims to investigate how changes in marine ecosystems could impact seabird communities. The main tasks for this position are:

identify the most important prey species for seabirds in the North Atlantic throughout the year, using a combination of literature review, observational data, tracking and stable isotope data, as well as model and simulation results
study the distribution of seabirds’ prey in relation to other ecosystem components and environmental parameters, and assess how these affect the distribution of seabirds
quantify the role of seabirds in marine ecosystem energy and nutrient cycling
develop scenarios predicting future prey distributions as a result of climate change and evaluate the subsequent impacts on seabird distribution
publish your findings in internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journals

This work will be focused on large-scale studies encompassing multiple species and locations outside the breeding period.