Quantifying Effects of Anthropogenic Change on Seabirds: An Integrated Approach

Many animal species are experiencing marked declines in population size due to climate change and other human-related drivers. These declines are underpinned by changes to demographic rates of individual members of these populations. Individuals may be affected directly ("lethal effects" e.g. mortality from pollution events) or indirectly via alterations to energetic budgets ("sub-lethal effects" e.g. due to a reduction in habitat quality). Variation in individual responses to these effects determine the overall population-level responses to anthropogenic change. However, current understanding of these processes is limited because the extent of individual variation and the interactions between lethal and sub-lethal effects have rarely been quantified.

This studentship will quantify these interactions in UK seabirds that have experienced marked declines in recent decades and are affected by climate change and marine activities such as fisheries and offshore renewable energy. The limitations of current evidence have restricted our understanding of the causes of these declines and of predicted changes in the future, and have resulted in precautionary risk assessments of offshore developments. The student will develop new insights on the population dynamic consequences of human-related environmental change through analysis of existing long-term data and new data collected during the project, to address the following questions: a) how do individuals vary in their behavioural, energetic and demographic responses? b) what is the interaction between lethal and sub-lethal effects of human activities on demography? c) to what extent do these effects vary at different times of the year and with environmental conditions? Addressing these questions will ensure that the student is undertaking novel and timely research on key processes underpinning the effects of anthropogenic change on protected species.