Ms Claire Carrington

0000-0001-6522-7175

I am interested in understanding the ecology and behaviour of marine top predators, specifically how seabirds respond to variations in environmental conditions at fine spatiotemporal scales (meters, seconds-minutes). I model concurrent biological and environmental data to investigate and predict the responses of individuals, and so populations, to a heterogeneously changing climate.

My multi-disciplinary PhD research focusses on the European Shag (Gulosus aristotelis) and Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) inhabiting the Menai Strait and Conwy Bay, North Wales. I collect biological data using a range of complementary approaches including novel time-lapse photography, bird borne cameras, GPS tracking, observational surveys, nest monitoring, ringing data and stable isotope analysis. Concurrent environmental data is recorded by in-situ instrumentation and simulated using high resolution hydrodynamic and 3D oceanographic models. Using these data, I investigate how the abundance, distribution, foraging behaviour and population demographics of a coastal seabird species respond to fine scale variations in environmental conditions.