{"id":1025,"date":"2019-07-19T11:16:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T11:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/07-12-first-seatrack-doctor\/"},"modified":"2021-02-26T12:23:25","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T11:23:25","slug":"07-12-first-seatrack-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/2019\/07\/07-12-first-seatrack-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"PhD on seabird migration patterns based on SEATRACK data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-sizing-large\"><strong>At the end of May, Benjamin Merkel successfully defended his PhD on the migration of common and Br\u00fcnnich\u2019s guillemots in the North-Atlantic Ocean. His thesis is based exclusively on data from SEATRACK, and Merkel is officially the first doctor to come out of the project.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-9d6595d7 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:66.66%\">\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Formidable dataset<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-sizing-medium\">Benjamin Merkel was employed as PhD student within the SEATRACK project in spring 2015. As tracking data started pouring in from the various colonies covered by the project, Merkel could start his research and decided to focus his work on Br\u00fcnnich\u2019s and common guillemots. His dataset consisted of 1740 series (from one breeding season to the next) of position data from 887 individual birds breeding in 16 colonies in the Northeast Atlantic over a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Developed his own method of analysis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-sizing-medium\">Merkel\u2019s thesis consists of four scientific articles \u2013 three of which deal with various features of and drivers behind migration patterns and behaviour in the two guillemot species in the North Atlantic. In the fourth article, Merkel presents a method for processing light logger data that he developed himself. This method will, among other things, make it possible to correct biased position estimates and thereby utilize larger amounts of position data from each logger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Read the thesis:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/munin.uit.no\/bitstream\/handle\/10037\/15239\/thesis.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Migration in seabirds: seasonal structure in space and environment across species, populations and individuals<\/a><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bright future<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-sizing-medium\">Merkel was honoured for his work by his supervisors and opponents after the PhD defence, and his efficiency, descriptive power and excellent analytical skills were emphasized. In his speech to the new doctor, first opponent Tim Guilford from the University of Oxford said that the future is looking bright for modern seabird research with young \u201crecruits\u201d like Benjamin. In addition to Guilford, Stephen Votier from the University of Exeter in the UK was invited to be second opponent. Merkel\u2019s supervisors were S\u00e9bastien Descamps and Hallvard Str\u00f8m from the Norwegian Polar Institute and Nigel Yoccoz from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-sizing-medium\">Contact person: <a href=\"https:\/\/seapop.no\/profiles\/hallvard-strom\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hallvard Str\u00f8m<\/a>, Norwegian Polar Institute<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:33.33%\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/dr-merkel-og-co-rudi-caeyersjpg-743048147.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"687\" src=\"https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/dr-merkel-og-co-rudi-caeyersjpg-743048147-1024x687.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/dr-merkel-og-co-rudi-caeyersjpg-743048147-1024x687.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/dr-merkel-og-co-rudi-caeyersjpg-743048147-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/dr-merkel-og-co-rudi-caeyersjpg-743048147-768x515.jpg 768w, https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/dr-merkel-og-co-rudi-caeyersjpg-743048147.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><figcaption><strong>From the left: First opponent Tim Guilford, second opponent Stephen Votier, supervisor Nigel Yoccoz, Benjamin Merkel and supervisors Hallvard Str\u00f8m and S\u00e9bastien Descamps.<\/strong><br>Photo: Rudi Caeyers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/seatrack-doktor-og-kakejpg-919915154.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"886\" src=\"https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/seatrack-doktor-og-kakejpg-919915154.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4206\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/seatrack-doktor-og-kakejpg-919915154.jpg 600w, https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/seatrack-doktor-og-kakejpg-919915154-203x300.jpg 203w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption><strong>Benjamin Merkel could celebrate his PhD with SEATRACK cake. Benjamin designed the logo for the project himself at the start of his work as Phd student in 2015.<\/strong><br>Photo: Erlend Lorentzen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the end of May, Benjamin Merkel successfully defended his PhD on the migration of &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/2019\/07\/07-12-first-seatrack-doctor\/\">Les videre<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \u00abPhD on seabird migration patterns based on SEATRACK data\u00bb<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1025","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized"},"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-scaled.jpg",2048,1375,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-300x201.jpg",300,201,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-768x516.jpg",768,516,true],"large":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-1024x688.jpg",1024,688,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-1536x1032.jpg",1536,1032,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-2048x1376.jpg",2048,1376,true],"default":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-scaled.jpg",1043,700,false],"square":["https:\/\/seapop.no\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Dr-Merkel-og-Co-Rudi-Caeyers-1-scaled.jpg",400,269,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Erlend Lorentzen","author_link":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/author\/erlend\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"At the end of May, Benjamin Merkel successfully defended his PhD on the migration of &hellip; Les videre \u00abPhD on seabird migration patterns based on SEATRACK data\u00bb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4209,"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions\/4209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seapop.no\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}