: Graduate Assistantship (PhD): black bear abundance and density in a time of mange

The Wildlife Habitat and Population Analysis (WHAPA) lab at Virginia Tech (VT) seeks a Graduate Research Assistantships (GRAs) to collaborate with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) to estimate abundance, densities of black bears using hair snares and genetic mark-recapture in areas with and without mange outbreaks. The GRA will also work alongside with another GRA in the Wildlife Ecology, Restoration, and Conservation (WERC) lab at VT studying black bear spatial ecology. American black bears are culturally and economically important across their geographic range. Black bears were historically abundant across the eastern US, but their numbers declined through the 1800s into the mid-1900s due to habitat loss and unregulated hunting. In recent decades, however, bear populations have recovered and now occupy 65–75% of their historical range, including Virginia. Recently, a highly contagious mammalian skin disease, sarcoptic mange, caused by an infestation of mites (Sarcoptes scabiei) may reduce survival and reproductive rates and thus potentially alter population dynamics, ecological roles, and cultural and economic importance of black bears. In Virginia, sarcoptic mange recently spread rapidly along the Blue Ridge mountains, yet neither the short nor long-term consequences of sarcoptic mange on black bear populations is known. To understand whether sarcoptic mange is causing localized population declines and provide managers with tools they can use to determine if harvest regulations need to be adjusted to prevent further declines, the GRA will work closely with DWR biologists, veterinarians, and wildlife health specialists. The GRA will also have the opportunity to develop additional basic and applied research questions centered around advancing knowledge of behavioral, physiological, disease, and population ecology of black bears. The WHAPA lab, the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, and Virginia Tech value diversity and continually strive to maintain and promote an inclusive learning and research environment that embraces all students. We are particularly interested in applications from persons identifying with groups currently underrepresented in wildlife conservation, including but not limited to Black, Indigenous, people of color, underrepresented genders, and LGBTQ+. Virginia Tech is a public land grant university in the state of Virginia and is nationally recognized as an R1 (“very high research activity”) institution across its 150 graduate programs. Blacksburg is a small town located in the Central Appalachian Mountains abutting Washington and Jefferson National Forest, providing ample opportunities for world class recreation and research.