THE STURROCK LAB

My lab investigates fish ecology, conservation and management, primarily by combining large environmental and fisheries datasets with the analysis of chemical markers in fish archival tissues (e.g. otoliths, eye lenses) to reconstruct migration patterns, health and diet. The results provide unique insights into fish behaviours and habitat needs in natural settings, allowing us to better predict how climate change and other stressors will shape their evolution, productivity and resilience.

I am a Senior Lecturer (Assoc. Prof.) at the University of Essex, UK, and a UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellow (2022-25). Along with Susanne Tanner (University of Lisbon), I co-lead an international working group focused on marine connectivity (2020-24), and am one of the University of Essex's Public Voice Scholars (2023-25). In 2023 I co-convened the FSBI Symposium Fish Habitat Ecology in a Changing Climate at the University of Essex. I'm passionate about public engagement and translational ecology, in 2019, taking part in an art-science collaboration with Tamar Assaf - Hanging by a Thread, in 2022, directing a 'Lightning Lecture' for the Royal Society about tracking animal movement in the sea and why we should care - Ocean Travellers and designing an educational video game The Maze of Misfortune about the perils faced by marine migratory species, and - in 2023 - making a film about staying positive about the future of our marine ecosystems in the face of climate change - Reasons for Optimism.

In my lab, we are working on various projects exploring (1) the effect of different stressors (e.g. warming, habitat loss) and management actions on the migratory behaviour, growth and resilience of salmonids, (2) estimating the connectivity patterns and contribution rates of nursery grounds to the adult stock for sea bass, tuna, sole and anchovies, (3) combining genetic and otolith tools to explore the relationship between genotype and phenotype, (4) exploring new tools to reconstruct hormone and contaminant histories in multiple fish species, (5) modeling the influence of environmental and anthropogenic drivers on fish growth and health, (6) analysing historical data on consumer demand and trade in seafood supply chains, (7) using stable isotope analysis to understand the trophic ecology and habitat use of multiple species, including teleosts and cephalopods (primarily the common cuttlefish).