Name:  Sabrina Fossette Email: s.fossette@swansea.ac.uk Tel:  + 44 (0)1792 205678 ext 4614

Research Interests

I am interested in the phenomenon of migration in marine species, articularly which environmental cues can help animals decide when and where to go and how they deal with environmental conditions such as ocean currents during their migration. I am also trying to find where and under which conditions animals interact with fisheries. I have mainly worked on sea turtles which are a particularly interesting model as they are long-distance migratory animals which explore variable oceanic environments. More recently, I have started working on humpback whales and jellyfish.

Selected publications 

• Fossette, S., Gleiss, A.C., Myers, A.E., Garner, S., Liebsch, N., Whitney, N., Hays, G.C., Wilson, R.P., Lutcavage, M.E. Behaviour and buoyancy regulation in the deepest diving reptile: the leatherback turtle. Journal of Experimental Biology. 213, 4074-4083, doi:10.1242/jeb.048207
• Fossette S, Girard C, Lopez-Mendilaharsu M, Miller P, Domingo A, Evans D, Kelle L, Plot V, Prosdocimi L, Verhage B, Gaspar P, Georges J-Y. Atlantic leatherback migratory paths and temporary residence areas. Plos One. 5(11): e13908. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013908
• Hays, G. C., Fossette, S., Katselidis, K. A., Mariani, P. and Schofield, G. 2010. Ontogenetic development of migration: Lagrangian drift trajectories suggest a new paradigm for sea turtles. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 7, 1319-1327
• Schofield G, Hobson VJ, Fossette S, Lilley MKS, Katselidis KA, Hays GC. 2010. Fidelity to foraging sites, consistency of migration routes and habitat modulation of home range by sea turtles. Diversity and Distributions, 16, 840–853. doi:10.1111/j.1472-4642.2010.00694.x
• Fossette S, Hobson, VJ, Girard, C, Calmettes, B, Gaspar P, Georges J-Y, Hays, G. 2010. Spatio-temporal foraging patterns of a giant zooplanktivore, the leatherback turtle. Journal of Marine Systems 81, 225-234
    

Projects

• Connectivity of jellyfish populations: Jellytrack (www.jellytrack.co.uk)
• Migratory strategies of male loggerhead turtles
• Activity budgets of female loggerhead turtles during the nesting season
• Pan-Atlantic distribution of leatherback turtles and interaction with fisheries (TALCIN)
• Migratory behaviour of humpback whales in the South-western Indian Ocean

Collaborators   

• Dr Jean-Yves Georges, CNRS-IPHC, France (http://iphc.cnrs.fr)
• Dr Philippe Gaspar, CLS, France (http://www.cls.fr)
• Dr Philip Miller, CICMAR, Uruguay, (www.cicmar.org)
• Dr Helen Bailey, University of Maryland, USA (www.umces.edu/cbl/faculty/ )
• Dr Raymond Klaassen, Lund University, Sweden (http://www.canmove.ekol.lu.se)
• Dr Paolo Luschi, Pisa University, Italy (http://unipi.it)
• Dr Michael Coyne, seaturtle.org, USA (www.seaturtle.org )
• Dr Mads Peter Heide-Jörgensen, Greenland Institute of Marine Resources, Denmark (http://www.natur.gl/index.php?id=1&L=3)
• Dr Katia Ballorain, CARA ecology, Mayotte
• Dr Michel Vély, Megaptera, Mauritius (http://www.megaptera.org/)
   

Funding

• The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
• NERC
• WWF-Trans-Atlantic Leatherback Conservation Initiative
• AXA Research Foundation
• Fondation Nature et Decouverte