Dr Nathalie Pettorelli

Curriculum Vitae:

• Winter 2011: Became a GEO BON Member
• July 2011: Honorary Lecturer position, University College London (UCL)
• June 2010: L'Oréal UK and Ireland Fellowship for Women in Science
• August 2009-November 2009: Secondment at the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), Cambridge, to work on REDD issues.
• April 2009-Present: Institute Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology.
• April 2006-March 2009: Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the Institute of Zoology
• September 2005-March 2006: Postdoctoral position at the University Laval, Québec, under the supervision of Steeve Coté and Jean Huot (Chaire CRSNG – Produits forestiers Anticosti).
• December 2003-August 2005: European Fellowship (Marie Curie) for a two-year proposal entitled “Coupling vegetation dynamics and deer performance in Norway and France” at the University of Oslo, with Atle Mysterud and Nils Chr. Stenseth.
• December 2002-November 2003: Lavoisier Fellowship (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France) for a one-year proposal entitled “Coupling phenology and red deer body mass in the West Coast of Norway” at the University of Oslo, with Atle Mysterud and Nils Chr. Stenseth.
• 1999-2002: Ph.D. Thesis “Individual variability and population dynamics: the importance of space”, with J.M. Gaillard (UMR CNRS 5558, University of Lyon).
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Research Interests:

My scientific interests lie in population ecology, which is a major sub-field of ecology dealing with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment. More precisely, my research focuses on identifying the factors determining the presence, abundance and population dynamics of terrestrial mammals. By doing this, my goal is not only to generate results relevant to the academic world, but also to use the generated knowledge to inform conservation policy and management.

I completed my PhD at the Laboratory of Biometry and Evolutionary Biology in Lyon, France. My Ph.D. project aimed at describing and quantifying the impact of spatial variation in habitat quality on the individual performance and dynamics of a roe deer population monitored for more than 25 years in the south west of France (Chizé). This interdisciplinary Ph.D. (which involved nutritional ecology, botany, population dynamics, management, spatial statistics and multivariate analyses) was the result of the collaboration between the Centre National de la Recherche (CNRS) in Lyon and Chizé (Drs. Gaillard, Duncan, Chessel, and Dray), the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (ONCFS), and the Office National des Forets (ONF).

My two Postdoctoral positions at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, (CEES, University of Oslo, Norway), were successively funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Lavoisier fellowship) and a European fellowship (Marie Curie). They focused on the use of satellite-based data (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI) in ecology, more particularly in population dynamics of large herbivores (reindeer, roe deer, red deer). More specifically, the aim was to quantify the relationships between vegetation dynamics, seasonal dispersal and individual performance at multiple spatial and temporal scales. This project was among the first ones examining the use of satellite data in vertebrates’ population dynamics, and such work was made possible thanks to collaboration with many universities (i.e. Oslo, Tromsø, Svalbard, Lyon, and Ås).

After spending 8 months at Laval University (Quebec) addressing similar questions to those worked on in France and Norway, I joined the Institute of Zoology in April 2006, and started to work on cheetah demography in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. This new project allowed me to apply the key methodologies I have developed as part of my previous work to carnivores, a relatively diverse and culturally and economically important taxonomic group of mammals that has not been studied in as much detail as the large herbivores I worked on previously.

So far I have published more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals, and several contributions such as book chapters or reports. My aim is to conduct high quality, innovative and internationally recognized research through a multi-disciplinary approach involving statistics, remote sensing and programming. Over the last years I have been increasingly involved with understanding the impacts of environmental change on biodiversity level and distribution, combining my experience in spatial analysis, remote sensing data and modelling. My extensive experience of NDVI and its usefulness in ecology also drove my recent interest in promoting a better integration of satellite-based data in global monitoring programs, as the information encapsulated in such indices can provide valuable and needed information to wildlife managers and policy makers. I have therefore been increasingly involved in developing projects and producing literature at the interface between science and environmental policy.
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Editorial Board:

Journal of Applied Ecology
Animal Conservation
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Students:

I currently supervise 9 PhD students , and was involved in the supervision of several Bsc and Master students.
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NEWS:

I am a 2010 L'Oréal UNESCO fellow !

I am working on my first book, entitled "The Normalised Difference Vegetation Index: principles & ecological applications". I hope to get it in press later this year

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Recent Publications :

Pettorelli, N. (2012) Climate change as a main driver of ecological research. Journal of Applied Ecology, in press

Gordon, I.J., Acevedo-Whitehouse, K., Altwegg, R., Garner, T.W.J., Gompper, M.E., Katzner, T.E., Pettorelli, N. & Redpath, S. (2012) What the ‘food security’ agenda means for animal conservation in terrestrial ecosystems. Animal Conservation 15: 115-116

Duffy, J.P. & Pettorelli, N. (2012) Exploring the relationship between NDVI and African elephant population density in protected areas. African Journal of Ecology, in press

Pettorelli, N., Chauvenet, A.L.M., Duffy, J.P., Cornforth, W.A., Meillere, A. & Baillie, J.E.M. (2012) Tracking the effect of climate change on ecosystem functioning using protected areas: Africa asa study case. Ecological Indicators 20: 269-276

Chauvenet, A., Ewen, J.G., Armstrong, D.P., Coulson, T., Blackburn, T.M., Adams, L., Walker, L.K. & Pettorelli, N. (2012) Does supplemental feeding affect the viability of translocated populations? The example of the hihi. Animal Conservation, in press

Chauvenet, A., Durant, S., Hilborn, R. & Pettorelli, N. (2011) Unintended consequences of conservation actions: managing disease in complex ecosystems. PLoS 1, in press

Ameca y Juarez, E.I., Mace, G., Cowlishaw, G. & Pettorelli, N. (2011) Natural population die-offs: causes and consequences for terrestrial mammals. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, in press

Fazey, I., Pettorelli, N., Kenter, J.O., Wagatora, D. & Schuett, D. (2011) Maladaptive trajectories of change in Makira, Solomon Islands. Global Environmental Change, 21: 1275-1289

Pettorelli, N., Coulson T., Durant, S.M. & Gaillard, J.M. (2011) Predation, individual variability and vertebrate population dynamics. Oecologia, 167: 305-314

Benavides, J.A., Huchard, E., Pettorelli, N., King, A.J., Brown, M.E., Archer,
C.E., Appleton, C.C., Raymond, M. & Cowlishaw, G. (2011) From parasite encounter to infection: multiple-scale drivers of parasite richness in a wild social primate population. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, in press

Carbone, C., Pettorelli, N. & Stephens, P.A. (2011) The bigger they come the harder they fall: size and abundance influence predator-prey ratios. Biology Letters, 7: 312-315

Pettorelli, N., Ryan, S., Mueller, T., Bunnefeld, N., Jędrzejewska, B., Lima, M. & Kausrud, K. (2011) The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI): unforeseen successes in animal ecology. Climate Research, 46: 15-27

Oliver, L.J., Morgan, B.J.T., Durant, S.M. & Pettorelli, N. (2010) Individual heterogeneity in recapture probability and survival estimates in cheetah. Ecological Modelling, 222: 776-784

Brekke, P., Bennett, P.M., Wang, J., Pettorelli, N. & Ewen, J.G. (2010) Sensitive males: inbreeding depression in an endangered bird. Proceedings of the Royal Society (B), 277: 3677-3684

Durant, S., Craft, M., Foley, C., Hampson, K., Lobora, A., Msuha, M., Eblate, E., Bukombe, J., Mchetto, J. & Pettorelli, N. (2010) Does size matter? An investigation of habitat use across a carnivore assemblage in the Serengeti, Tanzania. Journal of Animal Ecology, 79: 1012-1022.

Safi, K. and Pettorelli, N. (2010) Phylogenetic, spatial and environmental components of extinction risk in carnivores. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 19: 352–362.

Hart, T., Mann, R., Coulson, T., Pettorelli, N. and Trathan, P. (2010) Behavioural switching in a central place forager: patterns of diving behaviour in the Macaroni Penguin (Eudyptes chrysolophus). Marine Biology, 157: 1543-1553.

Pauli, N. and Pettorelli, N. (2009) Monitoring and measuring changes in above-ground biomass in tropical forests. Briefing note prepared by the Zoological Society of London for the Global Legislators Organisation meeting in Pittsburgh, September 25-26, 2009. Available online .

Dickson, B., Dunning, E., Killen, S., Miles, L. and Pettorelli, N. (2009) Carbon markets and forest conservation: A review of the environmental benefits of REDD mechanisms. UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

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Principal Collaborators:

• Jean-Michel Gaillard , Unité Mixte de Recherche N° 5558 "Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive", Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, 43 Boulevard du 11 Novembre 1918, 69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France. gaillard@biomserv.univ-lyon1.fr.
• Atle Mysterud , Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis (CEES), Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1066 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway. atle.mysterud@bio.uio.no.
• Sarah Durant , The Zoological Society of London, Institute of Zoology, Regent’s Park, London. s.durant@ucl.ac.uk.
• Charles Foley, Tanzanian Wildlife Research Institute, Arusha, Tanzania.
• Jakob Brø-Jorgensen, Mammalian Behaviour & Evolution Group, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Neston CH64 7TE.
• John Ewen , Institute of Zoology, ZSL
• Kamran Safi , Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell, Germany
• Ioan Fazey , University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews KY16 9AL, Fife, U.K.