SCIENCE
We investigate animal movement ecology, growth, condition and diet, primarily through the analysis of chemical markers in archival tissues (e.g. fish otoliths & eye lenses, cephalopod beaks). Method development is a large part of what we do, 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 can use these chemical signatures to reveal animal movement and experiences. Other markers reveal physiological condition, allowing us to link environmental conditions to fitness in natural settings, allowing us to predict how climate change and other stressors will influence species distributions, productivity and resilience.
Currently, we are exploring (1) 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
Sturrock and her lab members are 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 - All About the Bass - and subsequently developed the Bass Information Hub to facilitate data sharing and citizen science opportunities to support bass monitoring. Also in 2024, Sturrock designed an educational activity tool called The Wheel of Misfortune for the British Science Festival to demonstrate the dangers faced by juvenile fish and to encourage the restoration and protection of coastal nursery habitats. 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. Over the course of the week they made 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, entitled The Maze of Misfortune. In 2023, Sturrock contributed towards an animation about marine connectivity, had the video game translated into seven languages and combined both activities into a Teacher Pack to teach this important ecological phenomenon to school children (https://www.sea-unicorn.com/education-and-outreach).
In terms of media coverage, Luke Harrison and Dr Sturrock's 2021 paper on the large mismatch between the seafood we catch vs. eat in the UK resulted in articles in the Guardian and Sturrock being interviewed on the BBC news. In 2023, Sturrock was interviewed with Ford Engineer Sarah Haslam MBE on BBC Essex radio about Women in STEM and by Professor Jules Pretty for a podcast entitled Sea Changes - Louder than Words. Sturrock's latest work probing Atlantic salmon eyes and ears to understand their declines is of interest given their recent change of IUCN status in the UK to 'endangered', while Sturrock's 2020 paper about decreasing salmon diversity and her 2019 paper about trucking of hatchery salmon were featured as a NOAA newstory, by Oceanographic Magazine, and by the Salmon Science Network. Sturrock also wrote a series of California Water Blogs about salmon migration patterns and hatchery practices. In 2019, she was featured in an art-science collaboration with Tamar Assaf entitled Hanging by a Thread about the fragile future of Californian salmon in the face of climate change and increasing water scarcity. Back in 2015, Sturrock's early work showing the influence of physiology on otolith chemistry (so called 'sex surveillance') also garnered media attention. ​​​​​
