My interests are in the processes that drive changes in animal populations, especially in marine ecosystems. Foraging success and trophic interactions have important consequences for populations of ‘top’ marine predators e.g. seabirds and marine mammals, for their prey, and for fisheries. I also work on the implications of bycatch for predators, and the consequences of limiting bycatch for fisheries. Methods used and under development include: modelling the spatial distributions of predators and prey; the analysis of mark-recapture data; modelling trophic interactions; Bayesian methods including state-space (or hidden process) models.

Jones, EL, Smout, SC, Russell, DJ, Pinn, E & McConnell, BJ 2017, Review of analytical approaches for identifying usage and foraging areas at sea for harbour seals. vol. 602, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough. Jones, EL, Smout, SC, Blight, CJ, Sparling, CE & McConnell, BJ 2016, Fine-scale harbour seal at-sea usage around Orkney and the North coast of Scotland. Scottish Marine and Freshwater Science, no. 27, vol. 7, Marine Scotland. DOI: 10.7489/1876-1 Jones, EL, Morris, C, Smout, SC & McConnell, BJ 2016, Population scaling in 5 km x 5 km grey and harbour seal usage maps. Note to Scottish Government MMSS/002/15. Marine Scotland. Miller, P, Narazaki, T, Isojunno, S, Suzuki, K, Smout, SC & Sato, K 2016, 'Body density and diving gas volume of the northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus)' Journal of Experimental Biology, vol 219, pp. 2458-2468. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.137349 McConnell, BJ, Smout, SC, Wu, G-M, Thompson, D, Irving, P & Hastie, GD 2016, Marine Renewable Energy MRE1 Annual Report: Marine Mammals and Tidal Energy. Sea Mammal Research Unit.