{"id":457,"date":"2025-08-11T08:54:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T08:54:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/ecodap\/?page_id=457"},"modified":"2025-08-11T12:20:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T12:20:39","slug":"current-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/ecodap\/current-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why focus on marine top predators?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our goal at EcoDAP<\/strong> is to conduct multidisciplinary and rigorous research focused on 1) determining patterns of habitat utilisation and at-sea behaviour of marine predators; 2) investigating the trophic behaviour of individuals, populations, and species of marine predators and gaining insights about the status of the trophic webs and ecosystems from marine predators; and 3) understanding the interplay between physiological, behavioural and ecological factors that ultimately determine the resilience (and vulnerability) of marine top predators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, we are witnessing the recovery of some populations of air-breathing marine predators (some of them reaching pre-exploitation levels) whilst others remain at critically low levels or continue to decline. This disparity poses a two-fold challenge to the scientific community. On the one hand, because of their high metabolic demands, biomass, and consumption rates, these species have the potential to control the trophodynamics of entire marine ecosystems and can serve as sentinels of their status. On the other hand, in order for us to implement effective conservation measures to protect these species, we need to understand how they operate at the individual and population levels, and the mechanisms they rely on to cope with fluctuations in their environment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current Projects <\/h2>\n\n\n