Understanding the interaction between climate change and anthropogenic pressures, in relation to the demography and distribution of Caspian seals (Pusa caspica)

Many pinnipeds are threatened from anthropogenic sources of disturbance and climate change. Although ice-breeding pinnipeds face several additional threats relating to climate heating, such as the loss of ice breeding substrates. Understanding how these threats interact with the ecology of ice-breeding pinnipeds, in isolation and in combination, is an essential component of conserving ice-breeding pinnipeds. However, incorporating the ecology of a species within conservation frameworks can be challenging if complex behavioural phenomena are difficult to describe to non-experts. The application of quantitative methods can aid this process by providing an unbiased framework for interpreting ecological observations. Although, in the past, the application of these methods has been challenging due to long standing analytical challenges that emerge from practicalities associated with collecting data that describes the behaviour and distribution of free-ranging wild animals. Fortunately, several statistical innovations have provided precise frameworks that can address these challenges, and, in this thesis, I apply these methods in spatial and temporal contexts using Bayesian modelling frameworks to study the ecology of the Caspian seal (Pusa caspica), an Endangered ice-breeding pinniped.