Towards enhanced black-legged kittiwake metapopulation modelling in the context of global change and renewable energy development.

This project focuses on improving our ability to capture realism in the quantification and subsequent forecasting of kittiwake metapopulation dynamics. This work will advance our understanding of vulnerable species, and their conservation, through improvements in metapopulation modelling by including different sources of population structure (i.e. age, sex, experience) in demographic rates (such as dispersal/connectivity). Such advances would reduce uncertainty when forecasting how offshore wind development and climate change may affect priority species such as kittiwakes. Ultimately, the project aims to advance the evidence for and methodologies available to model metapopulation dynamics, informing policy, decision makers, nature conservation advisors and industry, and removing barriers to the delivery of net-zero targets.