Dr Jonathan Green PhD

In order to meet targets for decarbonistion of the UK energy system, ambitious goals have been set for the installastion of extensive offshore windfarms in our coastal waters. However in doing so, there is a legal and moral requirement to ensure that this large change to marine habitats does not come at the cost of biodiversity. The UK is home to large and important populations of seabirds which forage in the same coastal waters. Our work seeks to understand if, when and how birds interact with these installations and what the consequences of these interactions might be for their behaviour and populations. To do this we track birds, make simulations and model the future. This is applied science, working directly with relevant partner organisations such as JNCC, Natural Resources Wales, Natural England, Scottish Government, RSPB, BTO and developers from the windfarm industry. Funding from the partners and UKRI supports research projects and PhD students working on these topics.

Seabirds face threats all over the world. Our work in the Caribbean UK Overseas Territories (Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks & Caicos Islands) seeks to work closely with local partner conservation organisations and government departments to understand and promote the status of seabird populations. Challenges vary between the territories from conducting censuses, to sophisticated tracking programmes where we follow the movement of seabirds and use this to understand the location of important marine and coastal habitats. Funding comes via four separate awards from Defra's Darwin+ programme, most recently directly to Senior Research Fellow Rhiannon Austin, who leads these projects. Our Caribbean seabird projects

Understanding energetics (usually in seabirds but also geese, ducks and seals) has been my main research area since I started my PhD. While understanding how seabirds gain, use and store energy underpins lots of my applied science research, it also sits at the heart of other, standalone projects. Understanding energy expenditure has enabled us to answer diverse questions such as: How do penguins manage to dive for so long? How do birds make decisions about flying in windy conditions? How does energy help us understand the consequences of parasitism? Working with PhD students and collaborators, we have developed and improved methods to estimate energy expenditure and created tools such as the Seabird Field Metabolic Rate Calculator. Funding comes from wherever we can get it. Seabird Field Metabolic Rate Calculator