SCIENCE

The Sturrock lab investigates animal movement ecology, growth, condition and diet, primarily through the analysis of chemical markers in biochronologies or archival tissues (e.g. fish otoliths & eye lenses, cephalopod beaks). We combine application with method development, using in situ validation experiments to understand how different markers reflect diet or ambient conditions (e.g. salinity, temperature, pollution, oxygen levels). Where chemical gradients exist in nature, such as across the salinity gradient, we use the chemical signatures recorded in animals tissues to reveal their movements and experiences. Other tissue markers reveal physiological condition, allowing us to link environmental conditions to fitness in natural settings, to predict how climate change and other stressors will influence species distributions, productivity and resilience.

Currently, we are (1) exploring the effect of stressors such as warming, flow alteration and habitat loss on the behaviour and growth of salmonids, (2) estimating ontogenetic connectivity and the contribution rates of different nursery grounds to the adult stock for sea bass, salmon, tuna, sole and anchovies, (3) combining natural tags with genetics from the same individual to explore relationships between genotype and phenotype, (4) exploring new methods to reconstruct hormone and contaminant histories in fish, marine mammals and other taxa, (5) using isotope analyses to reconstruct the trophic ecology and movements of teleosts and cephalopods (primarily the common cuttlefish), (6) exploring drivers of vaterite formation (deformed otoliths) in wild and hatchery-reared salmonids, (7) validating markers of hypoxia to assess legacy effects on fish growth, size and fecundity.

OUTREACH

The Sturrock Lab is passionate about public engagement and can often been found talking about their science at school visits, blogs, radio and outreach events such as Pint of Science. In 2024, Sturrock joined an expert panel at the Harwich Electric Palace to discuss the launch of XTrillion, a documentary highlighting the issues around plastic pollution in the ocean. In 2020-2024 Sturrock co-led an international working group focused on marine connectivity, organising a variety of workshops, training schools and supporting two related conferences (ICES & iMarCo). In July 2024, the Sturrock Lab organised.a symposium and workshop at the University of Essex along with the Bass Angling Sportfishing Society - All About the Bass - and subsequently developed the Bass Information Hub to facilitate data sharing and citizen science opportunities to support bass monitoring. In 2023, the Sturrock lab ran the FSBI Symposium Fish Habitat Ecology in a Changing Climate at the University of Essex in collaboration with Cefas, from which she created a short film - Reasons for Optimism - and co-created an art exhibition Connecting Shoals with Professor Leanne Hepburn. In 2022, Drs Sturrock and Aldred created the Ocean Travellers exhibit to show at the First Light Festival in Lowestoft and the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition. For this, Sturrock directed a 'Lightning Lecture' about the methods used to track animals in the sea, and designed a video game to highlight the perils faced by migratory animals, called The Maze of Misfortune. In 2023, Sturrock contributed towards a cartoon animation about marine connectivity and had the video game translated into seven languages, then combined both into a Teacher Pack to support broader learning around this important ecological phenomenon. In 2024, the team resurrected the Ocean Travellers Exhibit at the British Science Festival and Sturrock added in a new 'circus style' activity called The Wheel of Misfortune to demonstrate the dangers faced by juvenile fish and encourage public support for cleaning up and protecting these key coastal nursery habitats.