David’s research covers the behavioural ecology, functional role and conservation of marine predators largely using reef sharks as a model. His research covers three main research areas:

Exploring the interface between spatial and social ecology. There is an inherent link between the ways in which animals move and how the socialise and understanding this relationship is critical for determining how populations are structured in space and time. This is especially challenging for wide-ranging, marine species. This work aims to establish what drives marine predators to aggregate and socialise and how this influences nutrient dynamics through their role as vectors which is important for determining the true role of these animals in delicately balanced ecosystems such as coral reefs.

Understanding how behaviour can influence functional processes and inform management and conservation. Sharks globally are highly threatened and many populations of both coastal and pelagic species have faced unprecedented declines in the last 50 years. The basic ecology of a number of these declining species remains a mystery which has hampered conservation efforts to help with recovery. This research focuses on better understanding how shark behaviour influences their susceptibility to threat and their capacity to recover from disturbance using several model systems inside and outside Marine Protected Areas (e.g. reef sharks in the British Indian Ocean Territory MPA, tiger sharks around ecotourist ventures).

Development of new methodological approaches for inferring behaviour from tracking data. This research area is focused on making the most of tracking data deployed on animals, often at great expense under challenging circumstances. Using network analyses, remote sensing and machine learning, this work attempts to derive metrics that describe an animals relationship to its local environment, providing a toolkit to measure change over time and in response to a changing climate.