Senior Research Fellow, Sea Mammal Research Unit

Biography

Gordon is a Senior Research Fellow at SMRU. He studies how marine mammals adjust their behaviour in response to changes in their environments. This includes natural environmental changes and responses to man-made perturbations. As we see the increasing urbanisation of marine environments, he is interested in how marine mammals perceive and respond to novel man-made sources in the ocean; in particular, he looks to understand how marine mammals interact with marine renewable energy developments. His research includes studies of the impacts of wind farm construction on seals and behavioural responses of seals and porpoises to tidal stream energy devices.

Selected publications

Hastie, GD, Russell, DJF, Lepper, P, Elliott, J, Wilson, B, Benjamins, S & Thompson, D 2018, ‘Harbour seals avoid tidal turbine noise: implications for collision risk’, Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 684-693. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12981

Hastie, GD, Wu, G-M, Moss, S, Jepp, P, MacAulay, JDJ, Lee, A, Sparling, CE, Evers, CHM & Gillespie, DM 2019, ‘Automated detection and tracking of marine mammals: a novel sonar tool for monitoring effects of marine industry’, Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, vol. 29, no. S1, pp. 119-130. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.3103

Onoufriou, J, Brownlow, A, Moss, S, Hastie, G & Thompson, D 2019, ‘Empirical determination of severe trauma in seals from collisions with tidal turbine blades’, Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. Early View. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13388

Russell, DJF, Hastie, GD, Thompson, D, Janik, VM, Hammond, PS, Scott-Hayward, LAS, Matthiopoulos, J, Jones, EL & McConnell, BJ 2016, ‘Avoidance of wind farms by harbour seals is limited to pile driving activities’, Journal of Applied Ecology, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 1642-1652. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12678

Russell, DJF, Brasseur, S, Thompson, D, Hastie, GD, Janik, VM, Aarts, G, McClintock, BT, Matthiopoulos, J, Moss, S & McConnell, BJ 2014, ‘Marine mammals trace anthropogenic structures at sea’, Current Biology, vol. 24, no. 14, pp. R638-R639. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.033