Staff Research Associate
Hannah earned a B. S. Biology, UC Santa Cruz in 1993, and a M. Sc. Marine Science, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and San Francisco State University in 2004. For her Master’s thesis research, she investigated demography, diet, and diving behavior of Common Murres in central California. Hannah has worked as a wildlife biologist on a variety of projects from studying endangered monk seals in The NW Hawaiian Islands to puffins in Alaska, and Adélie Penguins in the Antarctic.
Hannah has worked as a research assistant at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, coordinating the Coastal Ocean Marine Bird Education and Research Surveys (Beach COMBERS) since 2001. In 2005, Hannah extended the COMBERS project to begin to investigate human and natural mortality factors affecting seabirds in a “Central Coast Marine Bird Health Study” (CCMBHS) with support from OSPR - California Department of Fish and Game. Marine birds are important indicators of marine ecosystem health, and this study provides a quantitative demographic assessment of disease and other mortality factors affecting Common Murres and other seabird populations in California. CCMBHS works to augment existing beach survey programs, such as Combers and Beach Walk, and fosters collaboration between scientists and rehabilitation centers. CCMBHS is based out of California Department of Fish and Game - Marine Wildlife and Veterinary Care and Research Center in Santa Cruz to provide a regional information center for federal, state, and local resource managers.
See our photo gallery:
http://shutterbug.ucsc.edu/gallery/albums.php
Research interests: Seabird demography and population, diving behavior and diet, human-impacts to seabirds including oil and plastic pollution, fishery by-catch, and habitat destruction. Hannah also is currently involved in an international conservation project to remove invasive rats from seabird islands in New Zealand.