Professor Emily Shepard

Professor Emily Shepard

Professor, Biosciences
Academic Office - 132
First Floor
Wallace Building
Singleton Campus
Available For Postgraduate Supervision

About

I am interested in the mechanisms underlying animal movement and distributions, in particular, the movement of flying animals. The costs of flight are modulated by the physical environment, namely the weather, the landscape and the nature of the interactions between them. I use animal-attached technology to investigate how these factors affect the costs and patterns of avian movement and combine this with models to explore the ecological consequences of movement. Animal-attached loggers can now provide us with unprecedented information about wild animal behaviour, including its flexibility and costs, and I believe these data can play a vital role in the formulation of strategies for effective species-based conservation.

Areas Of Expertise

  • Movement ecology
  • Biotelemetry
  • Flight
  • Aeroecology
  • Energetics

Career Highlights

Research

Swansea Lab for Animal Movement

We research animal movement in its broadest sense, using individual-based approaches to examine the role of the environment in structuring the properties of animal movements and ultimately, distributions. We specialise in obtaining data using novel technologies which allow us to access information from particularly intractable species.

Award Highlights