- Professor
- Department of Natural Resources Science
- Phone: 401.874.2986
- Email: ppaton@uri.edu
- Website
Peter Paton is a professor of wildlife ecology at URI. He received his Ph.D. in wildlife biology from Utah State University, USA, and his M.Sc. in wildlife biology from Colorado State University. He worked as a federal wildlife biologist (USFWS, USFS) and contract biologist for 10 years before joining the URI faculty. He studies the conservation biology of wild vertebrates with an emphasis on threatened and endangered species, and he is currently leading the RI Bird Atlas project. He was PI, with Dr. Scott McWilliams, on avian survey efforts for the RI Ocean SAMP. He had worked with three graduate students to model the distribution of seaducks in Rhode Island Sound in relationship to offshore wind energy developments. For 5 years, he has been working with colleagues at UMass and USFWS to assess movements of endangered marine birds through wind energy areas. Recently, he has worked with Dr. Jim Miller and colleagues at GSO and Deepwater Wind to understand fine-scale movements of marine birds near the Block Island Wind Farm. He has authored over 75 peer-reviewed journal articles on these topics.
Research
- Assessing Avian Fine-scale Movements Near the Block Island Wind Farm - We are assessing tern and plover fight behavior near the Block Island Wind Farm to determine exposure risk.
- Assessing Impacts of Offshore Development and Habitat Alteration on Distribution and Abundance of Birds - Assess impacts of such disturbances or alterations on bird distribution and abundance.
- Habitat Use and Selection of Black Scoters in Southern New England and Siting of Offshore Wind Energy Facilities - Regional black scoter study using satellite telemetry and spatial modeling techniques over 2 winters.
- Marine bird distribution, University of St. Andrews, UK - Researchers partnered with the Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling at the University of St. Andrews, Fife, UK to estimate the density of marine birds in relation to offshore wind energy siting.
- Marine bird study with Aarhus University, Denmark - URI collaborated with National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University on the assessment of the effect of offshore wind energy development on marine birds.
- Resource selection and wintering phenology of White-winged Scoters in southern New England: Implications for offshore wind energy development - Researchers used satellite telemetry to document the winter phenology and site fidelity, as well as fine-scale resource selection and habitat use, of 40 White-winged Scoters along the southern New England continental shelf.
- The Spatial Distribution, Abundance, and Flight Ecology of Birds in Nearshore and Offshore Waters of Rhode Island - This interim report for the Rhode Island Special Area Management Plan (SAMP) summarizes research from January 2009 through mid-February 2010.