Artwork by Dr. Cara Gallagher Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship - Project Number 890284 - awarded under the Horizon 2020 EU funding Host Institution: Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Project Abstract Recent technological advances have permitted the collection of novel high-frequency information about animal behaviour, physiology and characteristics of the environment in which animals move. Such technology-driven achievements are exciting, but it is important to analyse these data with a view to their original objectives: understanding individual behaviour, predicting population processes and optimizing species monitoring and conservation programs. Despite a growing number of tracked animals, long term movement dataset are a present-day achievement. As a consequence, while many studies of animal movements are motivated by questions on population dynamics, the explicit connection between the two is rarely attained. Through MUFFIN, I will make use of nearly ten years of high resolution bio-logging datasets collected on three species of top marine predators moving in environments difficult to monitor: Little penguins, Adelie penguins and Southern elephant seals. With these unique data, MUFFIN will answer questions related to effects of changes of availability of marine resources on breeding success, predators foraging behaviour, decision making and habitat use. I will (I) quantify changes in foraging behaviour across spatio-temporal scales, characterise type of foraging patches visited and energy spent. I will (II) model the effect of foraging patches visited, energy spent and environment encountered aiming to understand animal decision making, use of environmental features and changes in space used. I will (III) link foraging behaviours, effort spent and type of patch to breeding success, highlighting fitness consequences of changes of behavioural patterns. In accomplishing MUFFIN's objectives I will open powerful new avenues for the use and analysis of large high resolution movement data. These approaches are key for research seeking to optimise strategies for habitat management and species monitoring. Publications: Working with sea turtles has always been on the list of "things to do" for me. I had the amazing opportunity to be trained as a student in Italy by, in my opinion, one of the greatest sea turtle researchers, Dr Sandra Hochscheid, at the Zoological Station in Naples. http://www.szn.it During my time in Naples I fell in love with ecology, conservation and movement ecology and I established a long term connection with Sandra. After my PhD, with better quantitative skills, I took the opportunity to collaborate with Sandra and help in the analysis of part of an Argos dataset on large juvenile individuals of Caretta caretta inhabiting the Mediterranean sea. Publications: I acquired my PhD at the University of Aberdeen in November 2017. What a fantastic journey! My PhD was funded by the NERC CASE scheme and I was lucky I had amazing supervisors from RSPB and Marine Scotland Science as CASE partners. For my PhD I focused on two species of diving seabirds: Common guillemot (Uria aalge) and Razorbill (Alca torda) As already started during my master, I kept nourishing my desire for learning about modelling, both statistical modelling and individual based modelling. So, during the PhD time I developed the quantitative skills necessary to analyse high frequency and multi-dimensional bio-logging data collected with GPS, time-depth recorders and accelerometers on diving seabirds. I highlighted the necessity for developing novel applications for the analysis of extremely detailed movement data. By using unsupervised machine learning algorithms, GAMs and hierarchical models, I addressed questions related to behavioural characterisation, behavioural responses to varying different types of food resources and habitat profitability, and the role of effort and past experience in determining the type of behaviour performed (Chimienti et al. 2016, 2017). These questions are steps that contribute to the bigger aim of understanding how animals adapt and respond to changes in habitat characteristics. |