Postdoctoral Fellow

Dr Lorien Pichegru PhD (Strasbourg, France) John Day Building: 2.15 Tel: +27 (0)21 650 3619 Fax: +27 (0)21 650 3295 Email: lorien.pichegru@uct.ac.za

Lorien has been working on the at-sea behaviour of three endemic and vulnerable southern Africa seabirds, the Cape Gannet (Morus capensis), African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) and the Cape Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis) and recently graduated with a PhD from the University of Strasbourg, France, under the joint supervision of Dr David Grémmilet and Assoc. Prof. Peter Ryan (UCT).  She used biotelemetry, mainly during the breeding season, to study how birds were responding to recent changes in their foraging environment, probably due to climate change. The results of several years of study of foraging behaviour of birds from different colonies were compiled to suggest conservation measures that take into account foraging areas of these top predators, while considering local economic needs.

One of the key goals of her post-doc, in collaboration with Peter Ryan, Rob Crawford and Les Underhill, is to assess the efficacy of Marine Protected Areas for seabird foraging effort. As part of an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, the South African management agency (Marine and Coastal Management) has proposed declaring closed areas to commercial purse-seine fisheries around key seabird breeding localities. By monitoring breeding adult foraging behaviour and breeding success on protected compared to non protected colonies, the team hopes to help design and/or refine conservation strategies.

Current students

MSc (Dissertation)

Rowen van Eeden: The foraging ecology of African penguins in relation with ocean physical processes and prey availability (Supervisors: Lorien Pichegru & Peter Ryan).

Recent peer-reviewed publications

Lorien Pichegru's list of publications [PDF]

2012

Cook, T.R., Hamann, M., Pichegru, L., Bonadonna, F., Grémillet, D. & Ryan, P.G. 2012. GPS and time-depth loggers reveal underwater foraging plasticity in a flying diver, the Cape Cormorant. Marine Biology 159:373-387. IF 2.011

Hamann, M., Grémillet, D., Ryan, P.G., Bonadonna, F., van der Lingen, C.D. & Pichegru, L. 2012. A hard-knock life: the foraging ecology of Cape cormorants amidst shifting prey resources and industrial fishing pressure. African Journal of Marine Science IP.

Pichegru, L., Ryan, P.G., Van Eeden, R., Reid, T., Grémillet, D. & Wanless, R. 2012. Industrial fishing, no-take zones and endangered penguins. Biological Conservation IP

2011

Crawford, R.J.M., Altwegg, R., Barham, B.J., Barham, P.J., Durant, J.M., Dyer, B.M., Geldenhuys, D., Makhado, A.B., Pichegru, L., Ryan, P.G., Underhill, L.G., Upfold, L., Visagie, J.,Waller, L.J. & Whittington, P.A. 2011. Collapse of South Africa’s penguins in the early 21st century. African Journal of Marine Science 2011, 33: 139–156. IF 1.229

Pichegru, L., Ropert-Coudert, Y., Kato, A., Takahashi, A., Dyer, B.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Diving patterns of female macaroni penguins breeding on Marion Island, South Africa. Polar Biology 34:945-954. IF 1.445

Wright, K.L.B., Pichegru, L. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Penguins are attracted to dimethyl sulphide at sea. Journal of Experimental Biology 214:2509-2511. IF 3.04