Understanding the impact of environmental changes and human activities on marine species and ecosystems is critical for informing conservation and management approaches. In this context, I have shaped my profile as a marine quantitative ecologist. More specifically, I infer the habitat use, behavioural and foraging ecology of marine megafauna (including pinnipeds, seabirds and fish) in relation to their environment from movement data collected by “bio-logging” devices. I like to use novel technological and analytical developments to issue both fundamental and applied ecological questions in a multi-disciplinary research environment.
As a MSC fellow at the Marine Bioacoustics lab at Aarhus University, I will study the fine scale foraging strategies of seals in relation with their biotic and abiotic environment. We will combine the use of acceleration and acoustic data to quantify the links between pinnipeds foraging decisions and energetics with 3-D prey distribution, environmental features and anthropogenic activities using grey seals as model species. Grey seals feed on commercially exploited species generating almost inevitable, direct (e.g. depredation from seals on fishing nets) and indirect (e.g. competition for the same resource) interactions with human activities. Thus, we aim to provide new insights of the sensory ecology of a large marine predator in habitats facing increased human encroachment. This multi-disciplinary project lies at the intersection of bioacoustics, cutting edge engineering tools, signal processing, ecology and physiology to determine foraging optimization in free-ranging, wild marine animals.
Contact information:
karine.heerah@hotmail.fr
marinebioacoustics.wordpress.com 