Aonghais Cook

Senior Research Ecologist

Aonghais Cook

Aonghais undertakes research examining the causes of changes in the abundance of waterbirds and seabirds, and potential impacts of man-made developments on their populations

BSc Ecology Stirling University, 2000-2004. MSc Ecology University of Wales, Bangor, 2004-2005. PhD Landscape Use By Gulls, Newcastle University, 2005-2008.

Interests & Responsibilities

Aonghais works on a wide variety of short-term research projects, mainly focussing on the ecology of marine birds. Recent work has focussed on environmental impacts of renewable energy developments and developing monitoring strategies and indicators for seabirds and other marine species. Aonghais regularly provides scientific advice to government organisations, industry and others, and welcomes opportunities for collaboration.

Recent BTO Publications

Cook, A.S.C.P., Humphreys, E.M., Bennet, F., Masden, E.A. & Burton, N.H.K. 2018. Quantifying avian avoidance of offshore wind turbines: Current evidence and key knowledge gaps. Marine Environmental Research 140 : 278-288 View at journal website (DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2018.06.017) 11pp
O'Brien, S.H., Cook, A.S.C.P. & Robinson, R.A. 2017. Implicit assumptions underlying simple harvest models of marine bird populations can mislead environmental management decisions. Journal of Environmental Management 201 : 163-171 Link to publication View at journal website (DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.06.037) 9pp
Cook, A.S.C.P. & Robinson, R.A. 2017. Towards a framework for quantifying the population-level consequences of anthropogenic pressures on the environment: The case of seabirds and windfarms. Journal of Environmental Management 190 : 113-121 View at journal website (DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.12.025)
Aonghais S.C.P. Cook & Robert A. Robinson 2016. The Scientific Validity of Criticisms made by the RSPB of Metrics used to Assess Population Level Impacts of Offshore Wind Farms on Seabirds . Research Report no. 665.
Alison Johnston & Aonghais, S.C.P. Cook 2016. How high do birds fly? Development of methods and analysis of digital aerial data of seabird flight heights . Research Report no. 676. 53pp
Chris B. Thaxter, Viola H. Ross-Smith & Aonghais S C P Cook 2016. How high do birds fly? A review of current datasets and an appraisal of current methodologies for collecting flight height data: Literature review . Research Report no. 666. 66pp
View all BTO publications for this author

Other Publications

Cook, A., Rushton, S., Allan, J. & Baxter, A. 2008. An evaluation of techniques to control problem bird species on landfill sites. Environmental Management 41: 834-843.

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