Mark Mallory
Mark’s research is largely on the constraints that affect annual reproductive success in high arctic northern fulmars (pictured below). Mark has done many studies on how colony attendance and incubation shift length is affected by year and location of breeding fulmars. He has explored the adaptive significance of the fulmar exodus (like other petrels, the fulmars first visit the colony prior to egg laying and soon thereafter abandon it entirely for 2-3 weeks). High arctic fulmars expend considerable energy and time excavating their nests (as when they arrive, nests are still buried in snow), courting, and interacting with conspecifics and heterospecifics. The exodus might well function to replenish lost reserves needed for breeding or enable females the time to sequester nutrients and energy for their single egg. Mark has also obtained baseline information for fulmars on migration (deploying satellite tracking systems), haematology, parasite diversity and numbers and contaminant burdens. The natural history of the fulmar is exciting. One of the things that immediately impresses me is that fulmars will defend nest sites from marauding gulls by projecting stomach oil at them (they also projectile vomit at recalcitrant neighbours). There are many records of birds oiled by fulmars dying from hypothermia.