Claire is a Cetacean Assistant Researcher, previously post-doctoral researcher with MMRP. Her research interests cover many aspects of the ecology of marine mammals, in particular the factors that drive distribution and abundance of cetaceans, as well as the impacts of human activities and structures on cetaceans. She has a PhD from the University of St Andrews, UK, and a masters degree in Biodiversity, Wildlife and Ecosystem health. She has spent a lot of time in the field, conducting both visual and acoustic surveys for cetaceans, as well as working on photo ID projects for both cetaceans and pinnipeds. When back at her desk, she uses ecological modelling techniques to investigate relationships between animals and their environment.
Find Claire on Google Scholar and ORCID:
Dr. Claire Lacey
Claire's Research Aims
Claire’s research investigates the distribution and abundance of small odontocetes, primarily spinner dolphins, around the Main Hawaiian Islands. Combining line transect surveys with photo-identification, her work aims to:
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Generate a robust abundance estimate for each of the spinner dolphin stocks around the Main Hawaiian Islands using line transect surveys from both aerial and boat based surveys.
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Investigate both inter and intra island movements of spinner dolphins: how are they moving around their environment?
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Investigate the drivers of distribution – what environmental factors may be influencing dolphins to use the areas they do.
Biography
Claire came to Hawai’i from the UK, and has been working on marine mammal projects since 2001. Prior to moving to MMRP, Claire was project coordinator for SCANS-III, a large, international survey for cetaceans covering much of the European Atlantic Region. Her PhD work used the data collected during this and other large-scale surveys to run ecological models to investigate the factors that influence large scale distribution of cetaceans. Previous work has involved considerable time in the field throughout the Atlantic, as well as the Southern Ocean and in Hong Kong. Claire is a Chartered Environmentalist, Convenor of the Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management’s (CIEEM) Marine and Coastal Special Interest Group, and has served on the Scottish Policy Groups for both CIEEM and British Ecological Society. She is an active science communicator, and science writer and has done a wide range of talks on ocean science, marine mammals and promoting science careers in schools