Michele Thums

I study the demography and movement behaviour of marine megafauna (e.g. marine mammals, sea turtles, fish) with an interest in both applied and theoretical questions in ecology. I am particularly interested in understanding the context and motivations surrounding movement from one place to another and linking animal movement with environmental factors. These questions are key to understanding how populations will respond to future environmental change. I typically work with data from animal-borne electronic devices, remotely-sensed environmental data and also survey data.

I started my working life as a zookeeper at Sydney's Taronga Zoo. I graduated with BSc Hons in 2000 and after working in a range of institutions (e.g. USyd, Australian Antarctic Division) for a few years I completed my PhD in 2009. My first postdoctoral research position was at the University of Western Australia Oceans Institute from 2010-2013 and I have been employed as a research scientist at AIMS since then.