Associate Professor

Assoc. Prof. Peter G. Ryan BSc (Hons), MSc, PhD (Cape Town) John Day Building: 2.06 Tel:+27 (0)21 650 2966 Fax: +27 (0)21 650 3295 Email: peter.ryan@uct.ac.za

Activities and research interests

Academic Course Coordinator for the Institute's MSc Course in Conservation Biology, general ornithology, seabird-fishery interactions, evolutionary ecology (focusing on resolving closely-related species complexes), marine debris, solid waste management, the biology of oceanic islands.

Peter Ryan graduated from the University of Cape Town, researching the impacts of ingested plastic on seabirds (MSc) and the evolutionary ecology of buntings in the Tristan archipelago (PhD). After a post-doc at the University of California he was appointed academic Coordinator of the Masters Programme in Conservation Biology at the Fitztitute in 1993. Although he mostly works on seabirds and their conservation, he has wide-ranging interests in avian biology, and still maintains an interest in plastic pollution, especially in marine systems. He is the President of BirdLife South Africa and an associate editor of Antarctic Science and Bird Conservation International. He has been an honorary Conservation Officer at Tristan da Cunha since 1989, and is a member of Tristan’s Biodiversity Advisory Group. He has spent more than a year Inaccessible Island, studying the island's endemic buntings as well as conducting surveys of threatened birds and conducting control programmes against alien plants. He is a keen birder and believes in the importance of promoting amateur involvement in ornithology. He has written several books about birds and their identification, and is scientific advisor to Africa - Birds & Birding, a popular magazine about birds.

Research programmes

Current students

Post-doctoral

Doctoral

Lisa Nupen: Comparative Conservation Genetics and Evolutionary History of threatened, endemic southern African Seabirds in the Benguela Current Upwelling Ecosystem: Range-wide phylogeography, gene flow and population genetics based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (Supervisors: Peter Ryan, Rauri Bowie (UCLA, Berkeley) and Jacqui Bishop (UCT, Zoology)).

Jessica Shaw: Conservation biology of Ludwig’s Bustard (Supervisors: Peter Ryan & Andrew Jenkins).

Masters

Philna Botha: Testing the food-shortage hypothesis on the long-term population dynamics of the endangered Bank Cormorant (Supervisors: Timothée Cook, Richard Sherley, Les Underhill and Peter Ryan).

Corlia Meyer: Testing the influence of heat-stress on the breeding success of an endangered species: the Bank Cormorant (Supervisors: Timothée Cook, Richard Sherley, Les Underhill and Peter Ryan).

Mia Cerfonteyn: The population status of the Subantarctic Skua Catharacta antarctica lönnbergi two decades after the Feral Cat Felis catus eradication on Marion Island (Supervisor: Peter Ryan).

Rowen van Eeden: The foraging ecology of African penguins in relation with ocean physical processes and prey availability (Supervisors: Lorien Pichegru & Peter Ryan).

Honours

Jennifer Roberts: Comparing the effect of ambient air temperature and operative temperature on heat-stress behavioural responses in the endangered Bank Cormorant (Supervisors: Timothée Cook, Richard Sherley, Les Underhill and Peter Ryan).

Conservation Biology Masters

Emily Cressey: The conservation genetics of Rose's mountain toad (Capensibufo rosei) (Supervisors: Peter Ryan, Krystal Tolley & John Measey).

Masumi Gudka: The effects of pesticides on the breeding success and population of African Fish Eagles at Lake Naivasha, Kenya (Supervisors: Rob Simmons, Peter Ryan).

Ed Rice: Rory lines: A silver lining for seabirds (Supervisors: Peter Ryan & Ross Wanless).

Maurice Schutgens: Collisions, biases & bustards: The impact of power lines in the Karoo (Supervisor: Peter Ryan).

Darlington Tuagben: The vulnerability of the coast of Liberia to marine oil spills: Implications for biodiversity and renewable natural resource utilization (Supervisors: Peter Ryan, Jane Turpie & Patrick Morant).

Recent peer-reviewed publications

2012

Cook, T.R., Hamann, M., Pichegru, L., Bonadonna, F., Grémillet, D. & Ryan, P.G. 2012. GPS and time-depth loggers reveal underwater foraging plasticity in a flying diver, the Cape Cormorant. Marine Biology 159:373-387. IF 2.011

Hamann, M., Grémillet, D., Ryan, P.G., Bonadonna, F., van der Lingen, C.D. & Pichegru, L. 2012. A hard-knock life: the foraging ecology of Cape cormorants amidst shifting prey resources and industrial fishing pressure. African Journal of Marine Science IP.

Pichegru, L., Ryan, P.G., van Eeden, R., Reid, T., Grémillet, D. & Wanless, R. 2012. Industrial fishing, no-take zones and endangered penguins. Biological Conservation IP. IF 3.498

Ryan, P.G. & Branch, G.M. (in press) The November 2011 irruption of buoy barnacles Dosima fascicularis in the Western Cape, South Africa. African Journal of Marine Science IP. IF 1.229

Ryan, P.G. & Kerr, J. (in press). Is fur seal predation driving the decrease in Northern Rockhopper Penguins Eudyptes moseleyi at Gough Island? Marine Ornithology IP. No IF

Ryan, P.G. 2012. Blue-breasted Kingfisher Halcyon malimbica feeding at sea. Malimbus 34:43-45. No IF

2011

Cooper, J., Cuthbert, R.J., N.J.M. Gremmen, N.J.M., Ryan, P.G. & Shaw, J.D. 2011. Earth, fire and water: applying novel techniques to eradicate the invasive plant, procumbent pearlwort Sagina procumbens, on Gough Island, a World Heritage Site in the South Atlantic. In Veitch, C. R.; Clout, M. N. and Towns, D. R. (eds.). 2011. Proceedings of the Conference on Island invasives: eradication and management. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. No IF

Crawford, R.J.M., Altwegg, R., Barham, B.J., Barham, P.J., Durant, J.M., Dyer, B.M., Geldenhuys, D., Makhado, A.B., Pichegru, L., Ryan, P.G.,Underhill, L.G., Upfold, L., Visagie, J.,Waller, L.J. & Whittington, P.A. 2011. Collapse of South Africa’s penguins in the early 21st century. African Journal of Marine Science 2011, 33: 139–156. IF 1.229

Cuthbert, R.J., Visser, P., Louw, H., Rexer-Huber, K., Parker, G., & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Preparations for the eradication of mice from Gough Island: results of bait acceptance trials above ground and around cave systems. In Veitch, C. R.; Clout, M. N. and Towns, D. R. (eds.). 2011. Proceedings of the Conference on Island invasives: eradication and management. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. No IF

Cuthbert, R.J., P. Visser, P., Louw. H. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Palatability and efficacy of rodent baits for eradicating house mice (Mus musculus) from Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha, Wildlife Research 38:196-203. IF 1.205

Jenkins, A.R., Shaw, J.M., Smallie, J.J., Gibbons, B., Visagie, R. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Estimating the impacts of power line collisions on Ludwig’s Bustards Neotis ludwigii. Bird Conservation International 21:303-310. IF 1.138

Pichegru, L., Ropert-Coudert, Y., Kato, A., Takahashi, A., Dyer, B.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Diving patterns of female macaroni penguins breeding on Marion Island, South Africa. Polar Biology IP. IF 1.691

Robson, B., Glass, T., Glass, N., Glass, J., Green, J., Repetto, C., Rodgers, G., Ronconi, R.A., Ryan, P.G., Swain, G. & Cuthbert, R.J. 2011. Revised population estimate and trends for the Endangered Northern Rockhopper Penguin Eudyptes moseleyi at Tristan da Cunha. Bird Conservation International 21:454-459. IF 1.138

Ryan, P.G. & Ronconi, R.A. 2011. Continued increase in numbers of Spectacled Petrels Procellaria conspicillata. Antarctic Science 23:332-336. IF 1.328

Ryan, P.G., Glass, N. & Ronconi, R.A. 2011. The plants and birds of Stoltenhoff and Middle Islands, Tristan da Cunha. Polar Record 47:86-89. IF 0.889

Wright, K.L.B., Pichegru, L. & Ryan, P.G. 2011. Penguins are attracted to dimethyl sulphide at sea. Journal of Experimental Biology 214:2509-2511. IF 3.04

2010

Cohen, C., Ryan, P., Claasen, M. & Ntoyinka, C. 2010. Birding Rwanda - in search of Red-collared Babbler Kupeornis rufocinctus, Albertine Rift endemics and more. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 17:229-237. No IF

Grémillet, D., Mullers, R.H.E., Moseley, C., Pichegru, L., Coetzee, J.C., Sabarros, P.S., van der Lingen, C.D., Ryan, P.G., Kato, A. & Ropert-Coudert, Y. 2010. Seabirds, fisheries, and cameras. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 8: 401-402. IF 6.922

Jones, M.G.W. & Ryan, P.G. 2010 Evidence of mouse attacks on albatross chicks on sub-Antarctic Marion Island. Antarctic Science 22:39-42. IF 1.496

Mwema, M.M., de Ponte Machado, M. & Ryan, P.G. 2010. Breeding seabirds at Dassen Island, South Africa: chances of surviving great white pelican predation. Endangered Species Research 9:125-131.

Pichegru, L., Ryan, P.G., Crawford, R.J.M., van der Lingen, C.D. & Grémillet, D. 2010. Behavioural inertia places a top marine predator at risk from environmental change in the Benguela upwelling system. Marine Biology 157: 537-544. IF 1.999

Pichegru, L., Grémillet, D., Crawford, R.J.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2010. Marine no-take zone rapidly benefits endangered penguin. Biology Letters 6:498-501. IF 3.521

Ronconi, R.A., Ryan, P.G. & Ropert-Coudert, Y. 2010. Diving of Great Shearwaters (Puffinus gravis) in cold and warm water regions of the South Atlantic Ocean. Plos One 5:e15508. IF 4.351

Ryan, P.G. 2010. First record of Chilean Skua Catharacta chilensis for the African region. Bulletin of the African Bird Club 17:217-219. No IF

Ryan, P.G., Nupen, L., Rose, B. & Suleiman, A.S. 2010. Geographic variation in Socotra Sparrows Passer insularis. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 130:75-82. No IF

Ryan, P.G., Pichegru, L., Ropert-Coudert, Y., Grémillet, D. & Kato, A. 2010. On a wing and a prayer: the foraging ecology of breeding Cape cormorants. Journal of Zoology 280:25-32. IF1.545

Ryan, P.G. & Ronconi, R.A. 2010. The Tristan Thrush Nesocichla eremita as seabird predator. Ardea 98:247-250. IF 0.836

Shaw, J.M., Jenkins, A.R., Smallie, J.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2010. Modelling power-line collision risk for the Blue Crane Anthropoides paradiseus in South Africa. Ibis 152:590-599. IF 2.123

Shaw, J.M., Jenkins, A.R., Ryan, P.G. & Smallie. 2010. A preliminary survey of avian mortality on power lines in the Overberg, South Africa. Ostrich 81:109-113. IF 0.254

Techow, N.M.S.M., O’Ryan, C., Phillips, R.A., Gales, R., Marin, M., Patterson-Fraser, D., Quintana, F., Ritz, M.S., Thompson, D.R., Wanless, R.M., Weimerskirch, H. & Ryan, P.G. 2010. Speciation and phylogeography of giant petrels Macronectes Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 54:472-487. IF 3.556

Wanless, R.M., Cooper, J., Slabber, M.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2010. Risk assessment of birds foraging terrestrially at Marion and Gough Islands to primary and secondary poisoning by rodenticides. Wildlife Research 37:524-530. IF 1.5

Wilson, J.W., Burle, M.-H., Cuthbert, R., Stirnemann, R.L. & Ryan, P.G. 2010. Breeding success of Northern Rockhopper Penguins (Eudyptes moseleyi) at Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean. Emu 110:137-141. IF 0.803