University of Tasmania, Australia

Developing statistical models to integrate environmental and behavioural data into animal movement models.

Level: PhD

A fundamental challenge in animal ecology is to describe the distribution and abundance of animals to the bio-physical attributes of their environment. Despite significant improvements in our understanding of the distribution of Southern Ocean predators, due to steadily improving telemetry technology, the statistical techniques to properly relate these distributions to environmental features are less well developed. One of the most promising, State Space Models have been used successfully to  model animal movements and to also model when animals change behavioural states (such as going from fast, directed "transit" behaviour to slower, wandering "search" behaviour. While these models have already become valuable tools, there is considerable development needed before they can contribute to larger ecological questions. In particular, the capacity to incorporate information on the physical environment, behaviour or physiological state is needed to characterise why animals use some areas over others. This project will need a student with a high level of statistical expertise.

Nominal supervisors: Mark Hindell, Toby Patterson, Ian Jonsen, Sophie Bestley