Dr Francis Daunt will be discussing the impact of the climate crisis on Scotland’s breeding seabird populations. Highlighting the effect of extreme climate events on seabird mortality; the changes that have occurred to our marine ecosystems as a result of climate warming; and giving insights into the unprecedented guillemot and razorbill mortalities that have been recorded along the east coast of the UK this autumn.
The aim of Dr Daunt's research is to link ecology, life history variation and demography to understand the drivers of change in seabird populations. He uses a range of techniques including field observations, manipulative experiments and advanced statistical analyses. Francis is Group Leader of the Coastal Seas Ecology Group at CEH and leads the long term study of seabird populations on the Isle of May, one of the longest running and most comprehensive of its kind in the world.