Characterising underwater noise and changes in harbour porpoise behaviour during the decommissioning of an oil and gas platform.

Many man-made marine structures (MMS) will have to be decommissioned in the coming decades. While studies on the impacts of construction of MMS on marine mammals exist, no research has been done on the effects of their decommissioning. The complete removal of an oil and gas platform in Scotland in 2021 provided an opportunity to investigate the response of harbour porpoises to decommissioning.

Variation in foraging activity influences area-restricted search behaviour by bottlenose dolphins.

Area-restricted search (ARS) behaviour is commonly used to characterize spatio-temporal variation in foraging activity of predators, but evidence of the drivers underlying this behaviour in marine systems is sparse. Advances in underwater sound recording techniques and automated processing of acoustic data now provide opportunities to investigate these questions where species use different vocalizations when encountering prey. Here, we used passive acoustics to investigate drivers of ARS behaviour in a population of dolphins and determined if residency in key foraging areas increased following encounters with prey.

Prey encounters and spatial memory influence use of foraging patches in a marine central place forager.

Given the patchiness and long-term predictability of marine resources, memory of high-quality foraging grounds is expected to provide fitness advantages for central place foragers. However, it remains challenging to characterize how marine predators integrate memory with recent prey encounters to adjust fine-scale movement and use of foraging patches. Here, we used two months of movement data from harbour seals () to quantify the repeatability in foraging patches as a proxy for memory.

Harbour porpoise responses to pile-driving diminish over time.

Estimating impacts of offshore windfarm construction on marine mammals requires data on displacement in relation to different noise levels and sources. Using echolocation detectors and noise recorders, we investigated harbour porpoise behavioural responses to piling noise during the 10-month foundation installation of a North Sea windfarm. Current UK guidance assumes total displacement within 26 km of pile driving.

Fine scale spatial variability in the influence of environmental cycles on the occurrence of dolphins at coastal sites.

Environmental cycles often influence the presence of animals, creating patterns at different temporal scales, which may mean that their effects overlap and/or interact. Interactions between diel and seasonal cycles have been reported to influence fish behaviour but little is known about such interactions in marine top predators. Here, we studied the combined effect of seasonal, tidal and diel cycles on the occurrence of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) within a Marine Protected Area in Scotland.

Validating the use of intrinsic markers in body feathers to identify inter-individual differences in non-breeding areas of northern fulmars.

Many wildlife studies use chemical analyses to explore spatio-temporal variation in diet, migratory patterns and contaminant exposure. Intrinsic markers are particularly valuable for studying non-breeding marine predators, when direct methods of investigation are rarely feasible. However, any inferences regarding foraging ecology are dependent upon the time scale over which tissues such as feathers are formed.

Variation in harbour porpoise activity in response to seismic survey noise.

Animals exposed to anthropogenic disturbance make trade-offs between perceived risk and the cost of leaving disturbed areas. Impact assessments tend to focus on overt behavioural responses leading to displacement, but trade-offs may also impact individual energy budgets through reduced foraging performance. Previous studies found no evidence for broad-scale displacement of harbour porpoises exposed to impulse noise from a 10 day two-dimensional seismic survey.

Short-term disturbance by a commercial two-dimensional seismic survey does not lead to long-term displacement of harbour porpoises.

Assessments of the impact of offshore energy developments are constrained because it is not known whether fine-scale behavioural responses to noise lead to broader-scale displacement of protected small cetaceans. We used passive acoustic monitoring and digital aerial surveys to study changes in the occurrence of harbour porpoises across a 2000 km(2) study area during a commercial two-dimensional seismic survey in the North Sea. Acoustic and visual data provided evidence of group responses to airgun noise from the 470 cu inch array over ranges of 5-10 km, at received peak-to-peak sound pressure levels of 165-172 dB re 1 µPa and sound exposure levels (SELs) of 145-151 dB re 1 µPa(2) s(-1).

Disease dynamics in cyclic populations of field voles (Microtus agrestis): cowpox virus and vole tuberculosis (Mycobacterium microti).

The possible role of pathogens in rodent population cycles has been largely neglected since Elton's 'epidemic hypothesis' of 1931. To revisit this question, 12 adjacent, cyclic but out-of-phase populations of field voles (Microtus agrestis) in North East England were studied and the initial results are presented here. The prevalences of antibodies to cowpox virus and of clinical signs of Mycobacterium microti infection (vole tuberculosis) showed delayed (not direct) density dependence (with a lag of three to six months).

Mycobacterium microti infection (vole tuberculosis) in wild rodent populations.

Mycobacterium microti (vole tuberculosis) infections in small wild mammals were first described more than 60 years ago in several populations in Great Britain. Few studies of vole tuberculosis have been undertaken since then, and little is known about the relationship between M. microti isolates originating from different populations or at different times or of the prevalence of this infection in wild rodent populations, despite human cases of M.