Research Interests

Little Auk with Time-Depth Recorder copyright Jerome Fort 2007

The main theme of my research is how life history strategies determine the ability of different species to respond to changes in the environment. Most of my research has focused on long-lived seabirds and understanding their response to changes in prey availability. I am also very interested in how parents regulate parental effort to optimize their lifetime reproductive success, and understanding differences in male and female care in biparental care systems. My work has some more applied themes, including impacts of climate change and fishery exploitation.

I also try to bridge the gap between the Alaska research community and undergraduate students, facilitating work experience and internships for interested students. I work closely with the seabird and marine ecosystem research program of the U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, and am physically located with my collaborators there. Since 1993 I have been working with the Alaska Science Center on projects examining the population and behavioral response of puffins, murres and kittiwakes to varying food availability, and designing protocols for monitoring population trends of breeding seabirds.

I am currently enrolled as PhD student at Leeds University, Faculty of Biological Science with Dr. Keith Hamer and Dr. Geir Gabrielsen as supervisors.