Pay Grade: 29E

CONTEXT OF JOB:
The Research Associate II will lead and coordinate multiple wildlife research projects within the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. Primary responsibilities include overseeing salt marsh bird and vegetation surveys associated with restoration efforts at Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. This includes hiring and training field crews, supervising field data collection, managing and analyzing complex datasets, evaluating restoration impacts on avian and vegetation communities, and communicating findings through stakeholder engagement, conference presentations, and peer-reviewed publications.

The position also supports complementary wildlife research on carnivore abundance and deer ecology. Responsibilities include implementing spatial sampling designs, supervising camera-based wildlife surveys, managing and analyzing data, coordinating deer capture and GPS collaring efforts, ensuring animal welfare compliance, and contributing to applied wildlife management through quantitative analysis, reporting, and collaboration with agency partners.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Coordinates the field seasons for surveying the avian and vegetation communities associated with the USFWS saltmarsh restoration projects
• Advertises, hires, and trains field crews necessary to conduct wildlife and vegetation surveys associated with these and other projects
• Generates field sampling maps for crews to identify sampling locations
• Creates field sampling schedules
• Deploys, maintains, and downloads automated recording data from automated recorders
• Conduct point counts to identify birds in restoration and control units
• Conduct vegetation surveys in restoration and control units
• Manages data collection for all aspects of field data collection
• Ensure data are QA/QC’d and entered into the appropriate databases
• Organizes and maintains ARU data on hard drives and uploads data to the UD Biomix for analysis using BirdNet or other appropriate machine learning algorithm that identifies birds by sound.
• Communicates regularly with local, state, and federal partners
• Implements a sampling design to develop a spatially balanced hexagonal grid scaled to coyote home range
• Supervises the deployment and maintenance of baited passive infrared cameras to estimate meso-carnivore density
• Identify target species from camera trapping data collection
• Coordinate capture of adult female sika deer and adult female white-tailed deer using multiple trapping methods
• Fit GPS collars with mortality and proximity sensors to adult female sika deer and adult female white-tailed deer
• Collect biological samples and morphometrics from adult female sika deer and adult female white-tailed deer
• Ensures animal welfare compliance
• Maintains hard copies of all field data forms and scans of all field forms to be archived for long-term data management.
• Prepares data summaries at the end of each field season and assists in the preparation of interim reports.
• Supervises all student and summer labor associated with the project
• Orders supplies and maintains inventory of field equipment.
• Performs miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s degree in Wildlife Science or a closely related field
• Demonstrated experience in salt marsh ecology and field-based biological research
• Experience deploying and maintaining automated recording units
• Background in long-term ecological monitoring and sampling design
• Familiarity with ecosystems of the eastern United States
• Experience conducting wildlife and vegetation field sampling
• Strong data management and organizational skills using spreadsheets and databases
• Experience summarizing and conducting complex statistical analyses of wildlife population and ecological data using software such as R
• Demonstrated written and oral communication skills, including conference presentations and preparation of peer-reviewed manuscripts
• Proficiency operating motorboats, including navigation, safety procedures, trailering, and basic maintenance
• Experience training, supervising, and managing field crews
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a team

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Motorboat operation (MOCC training preferred)
• Experience estimating population densities using distance sampling and hierarchical models in R
• Using BirdNet to identify bird species by sound using machine learning
• Experience with Saltmarsh Habitat Avian Research Program SQL online databases
• Ability to work early mornings and late evenings depending on sampling needs
• Experience with ArcGIS and generating maps and spatial analyses