Dr Ellie Owen

Conservation Scientist, Conservation Science

Background

The work I do directly investigates the fundamental aspects of how and where seabirds feed through the use of miniature tagging technology. This allows us to follow birds in incredible detail on their feeding trips.

With one of the largest databases of its kind we are introducing new information to address the problem that many of the UK's internationally important seabird populations are declining, some of them dramatically so.

Part of the solution will be to manage our seas with the needs of wildlife properly provided for through conservation solutions such as marine protected areas (MPAs) and sensitive marine spatial planning.

Communicating the results of our work with the public and all users of the marine environment is essential to promote conservation action for marine wildlife.

External Activities

  • 2012 - 2016: Secretary of the UK Seabird Group

Contact

Ellie Owen

Dr Ellie Owen

Conservation Scientist, Conservation Science

North Scotland Regional Office, Etive House, Beechwood Park, Inverness, IV2 3BW

ellie.owen@rspb.org.uk

@Ellingbry

Research Gate

Specialisms

Climate change Identifying problems Marine New methods and technologies Protected areas

Selected Publications

Effects of sea temperature and stratification changes on seabird breeding success

As apex predators in marine ecosystems, seabirds may primarily experience climate change impacts indirectly, via changes to their food webs. Observed seabird population declines have been linked...

Date
06 October 2015
RSPB Authors
Dr Matthew Carroll, Dr Ellie Owen, Dr Steven Ewing, Dr Mark Bolton
Authors
Carroll, M., Butler, A., Owen, E., Ewing, S.R., Cole, T., Green, J.A., Soanes, L.M., Arnould, J.P.Y., Newton, S.F., Baer, J., Daunt, F., Wanless, S., Newell, M.A., Robertson, G.S., Mavor, R.A. & Bolton, M.
Published in
Climate Research
View publication Details

Black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) tracking in Orkney, 2013 and 2014

Both Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) recognise the gaps in current knowledge of at-sea movements of black guillemot (Cepphus grille). The need to fill these gaps is recognised in light of the black guillemot being the only seabird species which can qualify as a protected feature of a Scottish Nature Conservation Marine Protected Area (NCMPA). 

RSPB Authors
Dr Ellie Owen
Published in
Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Report No. 903.
View publication Details

Breeding density, fine-scale tracking and large-scale modelling reveal the regional distribution of four seabird species

We aim to estimate the distribution at sea of four seabird species, foraging from approximately 5500 breeding sites in Britain and Ireland. To do so, we GPS-tracked a sample of 230 European shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis, 464 black-legged kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla, 178 common murres Uria aalge and 281 razorbills Alca torda from 13, 20, 12 and 14 colonies respectively. 

Date
16 May 2017
RSPB Authors
Dr Ellie Owen
Authors
ED, Baer, J et al.
Published in
Ecological Applications
View publication Details
View more publications