Claire Buchan

Email: c.buchan@uea.ac.uk

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Profile

2010 – 2013 Joint Honours BA Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Durham

2013 – 2014 MSc Applied Ecology, University of Exeter. Research project: ‘Impacts of agricultural landscape features on moth populations: implications for agri-environmental management’

I have recently been involved with the IUCN Pangolin Specialist Group, running global-scale detection and occupancy analyses on camera trap data, with the aim of informing pangolin monitoring techniques. 

I maintain an interest in projects for which I have previously worked as a field assistant, including the Sparrow Weaver Project, and a project examining brood parasite–host interactions.

Research interests

• Avian ecology
• Environmental policy
• Movement ecology
• Ecological adaptation to climate change
• Illegal wildlife trade
• Population ecology

Current Research

Demographic consequences of different migratory strategies in a partially migratory species

The advancement of spring temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere is one of the most tangible effects of global climate change. Long-distant migrants are particularly vulnerable to environmental change, being exposed to a potential complex of stressors. Certain species – such as the model for this study, the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) – appear to be altering migration behaviour, with an increasing proportion of individuals remaining in the breeding grounds all year.

This project focuses on understanding what underpins different responses to environmental change, and what consequences these responses have. Specifically, through monitoring migration behaviour and breeding success, the project aims to determine intraspecific and environmental predictors of migration strategy, and what impacts different strategies have on population demographics.

Supervisory Team

Main supervisor:           Dr Aldina Franco (UEA)

Co-supervisors:            Dr James Gilroy (UEA)

                                    Dr Ines Catry (University of Lisbon)

                                    Dr Phil Atkinson (BTO)

Other relevant activities

Member of the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group.