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Dr. Courtney Shuert, PhD
(email at courtney.r.shuert@durham.ac.uk)
My interests have focused on how an individual survives and what drives that survival based on various aspects of physiology, behaviour and ecology with specific focus on high(er) latitude species. During my MSc thesis, I developed a keen interest in pinnipeds for the challenges that they face having to deal with both an aquatic and terrestrial life as well as the inherent difficulty in studying them.
Joining with Dr. Twiss for my PhD, I will be investigating fine-scale individual differences in activity budgets and behaviour of lactating female grey seals using tri-axial accelerometers. More specifically, I seek to develop methods for remote monitoring of fine-scale behaviour as well as to investigate the potential physiological and energetic costs and trade-offs of different behavioural types.
New developments in technology and tagging methods present an exciting way to evaluate many research questions that were previously unattainable. Pinnipeds and other marine mammals therefore offer an excellent proving ground for these new technologies. It is my hope that my contribution to this field will help to improve these methods in the hopes that they could be applied to other cryptic or relatively inaccessible species.
Selected Publications
Journal Article
- Shuert, Courtney R., Pomeroy, Patrick P. & Twiss, Sean D. (2020). Coping styles in capital breeders modulate behavioural trade-offs in time allocation: assessing fine-scale activity budgets in lactating grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) using accelerometry and heart rate variability. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 74(1): 8.
- Horning, Markus, Andrews, Russel D., Bishop, Amanda M., Boveng, Peter L., Costa, Daniel P., Crocker, Daniel E., Haulena, Martin, Hindell, Mark, Hindle, Allyson G., Holser, Rachel R., Hooker, Sascha K., Hückstädt, Luis A., Johnson, Shawn, Lea, Mary-Anne, McDonald, Birgitte I., McMahon, Clive R., Robinson, Patrick W., Sattler, Renae L., Shuert, Courtney R., Steingass, Sheanna M., Thompson, Dave, Tuomi, Pamela A., Williams, Cassondra L. & Womble, Jamie N. (2019). Best practice recommendations for the use of external telemetry devices on pinnipeds. Animal Biotelemetry 7(1): 20.
- Shuert, Courtney R., Pomeroy, Patrick P. & Twiss, Sean D. (2018). Assessing the utility and limitations of accelerometers and machine learning approaches in classifying behaviour during lactation in a phocid seal. Animal Biotelemetry 6(1): 14.