Mariel ten Doeschate
Mariel T.I. ten Doeschate
T: 07990 513589
E: m.ten-doeschate.1@research.gla.ac.uk
Work Address:
Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS)
Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine
University of Glasgow | Glasgow | G12 8QQ
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9377-1282
Research title: Pathology of Strandings Surveillance Data
Research Summary
Background
The marine environment is rapidly changing, most notably following developments in renewable energy industry and perennial pressures from fisheries, which befall against a backdrop of climate change that is occurring at a rate faster than previously recorded. The need to assess, quantify, and mitigate specifically anthropogenic pressures and impacts on marine ecosystems is therefore ever more pressing.
Marine mammals are charismatic megafauna which are recognised as useful indicator species, representing general ecosystem and ocean health. Surveillance of marine mammal species at sea is however notoriously difficult, with even the most basic population metrics being largely hidden from direct observation. A number of the animals that die at sea end up stranding on the shore, making the coastline a very powerful vantage point from which to undertake surveillance.
The problem
While information acquired through strandings surveillance often can not be gathered by any other means, strandings data is generated through a complex function of biological, physical, and social processes which are all interlinked and introduce varying levels of bias. As a consequence, there is still a lot of uncertainty around the extent to which you can use information obtained through examinations of stranded individuals to make population level inferences, and how representative the strandings surveillance datasets are of at sea mortality. This hinders progress and makes that strandings datasets are currently underutilised in the context of evidence-based population management and the development of policy.
My research
My research will focus on improving the statistical modelling techniques for strandings data to facilitate their use for population monitoring. I am hoping to develop a modelling framework that is able to better account for the biases associated with the strandings process, and reduce uncertainty in quantifying anthropogenic impacts on marine populations. Through this I hope that we can expand the use of strandings datasets for population ecology and conservation management – and guide future surveillance and management of marine ecosystems.
While this research will focus on marine strandings, my wider interest concerns the development of quantitative methods to maximise information from opportunistically collected datasets, to address questions in complex biological systems.
Conference
Conference Presentations – Oral
(co-authored presenations not included in list)
- M.T.I ten Doeschate, N. J. Davison, R. Deaville, M. P. Dagleish, J. Barnett, J. Barber, R. Penrose, M. Perkins, P. D. Jepson, A. Brownlow. Dead useful; Separating the Signal From the Noise through Marine Mammal Strandings Surveillance. European Wildlife Diseases Association (EWDA) conference. Larissa, Greece 27th – 31st August 2018.
- M.T.I ten Doeschate, A. Brownlow, N. J. Davison, R. Deaville, J. Barnett, J. Barber, R. Law, R. Penrose, M. Perkins, P. D. Jepson. Quantifying PCB’s in cetaceans populations; where is the solution…? Workshop on Effects of PCB exposure in killer whales and other threatened toothed whale species of the North Atlantic. European Cetacean Society Conference. Middlefart, Denmark, 29th April 2017.
- M.T.I ten Doeschate, N. J. Davison, A. Brownlow. Eyes and Knives Everywhere; Citizen Science Strategies for Strandings Monitoring (video presentation). Society for Marine Mammal Conference. Halifax Nova Scotia, Canada 23rd – 27th October 2017.
- M.T.I ten Doeschate, A. Brownlow, N.J. Davison, R. Deaville, P.J. Jepson, G. Pierce, F. Read, P. Thompson. The pathology of strandings data: methods to improve the ecological value of the strandings record as a monitoring tool. International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) Conference. Copenhagen, Denmark, 24th September 2015.
Conference Presentations – Poster
(co-authored posters not included in list)
- M.T.I. ten Doeschate, A. Brownlow, N. J. Davison, R.Deaville, A. Galatius, A. Gröne, J. Haelters, P. D. Jepson, G. Keijl, C.C. Kinze, M. Tange Olsen, U. Siebert, C. Bie Thøstesen, H., L. L. IJsseldijk. SCANS of the beach; International assessment of harbour porpoise strandings along the North Sea coastline. World Marine Mammal Conference, Barcelona, Spain, 7th to 12th December 2019.
- M.T.I. ten Doeschate, A., N.J. Davison, R. Deaville, P.J. Jepson, M. Perkins, L.L. IJsseldijk. Size matters: Assessing the ecological variability in strandings data at a relevant spatial scale. European Cetacean Society conference. Funchal, Madeira, Portugal. 14th – 16th March 2016.
- M.T.I. ten Doeschate, E de Jong, S. Hiemstra, L. Begeman, A. Strijkstra, A. Kuiper, A. Gröne. Parasite Related Findings in Dutch Stranded Harbour Porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). European Cetacean Society Conference. Sétubal, Portugal 8th – 10th April 2013.
Additional Information
Education
- MSc Applied Marine and Fisheries Ecology - University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK (2013 – 2014)
- BSc Wildlife management – Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, Wageningen University, Leeuwarden, the Netherlands (2007 – 2012)
- Marine Living Resources (part of B.Sc Wildlife Management), Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands (2009 – 2010)
Previous experiences and employment
- Marine Strandings Data manager – Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS), University of Glasgow (2014 – 2021 as part of SRUC, since July 2021 within IBACHM at UoG)
- Researcher; Data Analyst - External fixed term contract with Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, the Netherlands (2018)
- Wildlife Tour Guide – Ecoventures Wildlife boat tours, Cromarty, Scotland (2014)
- Animal Caretaker and team leader – SOS Dolphin Foundation, Harderwijk, the Netherlands (2013)
- Research Assistant – Spinner Dolphin Acoustics Population Parameters and Human Impact Research Project, Murdoch University and Duke University, Kona, Hawaii (2012 – 2013)
- Necropsy assistant – Harbour porpoise post mortem project at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, the Netherlands (2012 – 2013)
- Research Assistant – Bottlenose dolphin research internship with Murdoch University’s Cetacean Research Unit, Bunbury, Australia (2011)
- Research Assistant– Sea turtle Project research internship with St Eustatius National Parks Foundation, St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean (2009)
