Dr Sue Hull

Lecturer in Marine Biology and Ecology/ Programme Director, Marine Biology

Faculty of Science and Engineering

s.hull@hull.ac.uk

01482 347532

Sue Hull is an intertidal marine ecologist trying to understand the dynamics of the communities inhabiting rocky coasts, how climate change may impact such systems and how organisms adapt and evolve to such an extreme marine environment.

She is part of the national 'Capturing the Coast' team training citizen science volunteers to survey rocky shores alongside marine biologists to answer key science questions.

In addition to a life-long fascination with rocky shores, Sue is an avid bird watcher who works with industry to protect wading birds. She is part of a new research cluster looking at the ecology of birds in the Humber estuary.

Research

Research Interests

  • Rocky shore intertidal ecology and climate change

  • Wading bird ecology and conservation

  • Freshwater invertebrates in extreme environments

Research groups

  • Capturing the Coast - PI for the University of Hull hub of this national project training volunteers to conduct surveys alongside scientists to better understand changes on our coasts and inform future policy

  • Waders and Quarry Life - project run with HiedelbergCement and BirdLife International after the Hull team won the 2012 Quarry Life Award with the aim of improving silt lagoons in active quarries for wading birds

  • Birds and the Humber estuary - broad-reaching series of projects examining the ecology of waders in industrial landscapes, bird interactions with windfarms and detecting migration patterns using radar

Publications

Day, G., Wheeler, P.W., Mayes, W. & Hull, S.L. (2017), 'Can aggregate quarry silt lagoons provide resources for wading birds?', Ecological Engineering, 105, p 189-197

Barrett, C.J., Johnson, M.L. and Hull, S.L. (2016), 'Population dynamics of two sympatric intertidal fish species (the shanny, Lipophrys pholis and long-spined scorpion fish, Taurulus bubalis) of Great Britain', Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 1–7. doi:10.1017/S0025315416001582

Barrett, C.J., Johnson, M.L. and Hull, S.L. (2016), 'Diet as a mechanism of coexistence between intertidal fish species of the UK', Hydrobiologia, 768, 125-135

Furnell, J. & Hull, S.L. (2014), 'Cliff top habitats provide important alternative feeding resources for wading birds of conservation importance wintering on non-estuarine coasts', Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 139, 119-126

Hull, S.L., Oty, U.V. & Mayes, W. M. (2014), 'Rapid recovery of benthic invertebrates downstream of hyperalkaline steel slag discharges', Hydrobiologia, 736, 83-97.

Full list

Teaching

Programmes taught on (2019)

Modules list

Module leader for

  • Practical Ecology L4

  • Intertidal Systems L5

  • Ecological Monitoring L6

  • Field Studies L6 - Mallorca Field course

Supervise both BSc and MSc projects

Contribute to

  • Global Environments L4

  • Skills for Biologists L4

  • Aquatic Zoology L5

Research PhDs

Sue welcomes applications for postgraduate supervision, at PhD or MSc by research level, in

  • intertidal ecology / biogenic habitats

  • wader ecology and conservation

  • freshwater invertebrates and environmental impacts

Completed PhDs

  • Richardson, A. 2015, Patterns of mussel bad infaunal community structure and function at local, regional and biogeographical scales, University of Hull

  • Lush, L. 2015, Functional ecology of brown hares, rabbits and livestock within agricultural landscapes, University of Hull

  • Barrett, C.J. 2014, Coexistence of intertidal fish, University of Hull

 

Teaching awards and accolades

  • HEA Fellowship

Professional highlights

Academic qualifications

  • BSc

  • PhD

External roles

Chairperson of Bathing Water Quality TAG group for North and East Yorkshire

Member of the

  • YCUGP (Yorkshire Coast Urban Gull Partnership).

  • British Trust for Ornithology

  • British Ecological Society

  • Marine Biological Association

  • Wader Study Group