29th July 2020

When seabirds come to town: How herring gulls make use of human behaviour.

About the talk

Herring gulls are becoming more common in urban areas, masking a national population decline but increasing the number of interactions this species has with humans. During encounters with humans, gulls must make risky decisions about when, where and on what to forage. Madeleine will discuss the behavioural cues gulls use from humans to inform their own behaviour, and how negative interactions between gulls and humans could be reduced.

About our speaker

Madeleine Goumas is a PhD student at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter. Her research focuses on the use of human cues by herring gulls living in urban areas.