For my second postdoc, I am following up on the themes of invasive species on their impacts on ecosystems from my PhD. Racoon dogs are a recognized invasive meso-predator in Finland and are thought to have contributed to the sharp declines in ground nesting water birds populations. At the same time, due to human associated food sources and a lack of top down control foxes, which are local meso-predators, are also strengthening in numbers in Finland. While it is legal to hunt both these species, lethal control has failed to bring the numbers down sufficiently and also raises a lot of ethical questions. 
In this project, I have the opportunity to work with experts from LUKE (Natural Resources Institute Finland) and the Animal ecology group at the University of Turku to devise and test alternative non-lethal control methods to protect waterfowl from these meso-predators.
We use chemical camouflage in the form of smell applied before the breeding season to 'hide' waterfowl nests from mesopredators.