Lab 2, Room 5
135 Duke Marine Lab Rd
Beaufort, NC 28516
252-504-7568
Fax: 252-504-7648
E-mail: catherin@duke.edu

Research Interests:

• Ecology
• Animal Movement & Habitat Use
• Conservation

Education:

• PhD Environment, Duke University, 2009
  
• MS Environment, Duke University, 2001
• BS Zoology & French, University of Wisconsin Madison, 1993

Bio:
My research focuses on how animals use habitat and ultimately how this information can be used to reduce or minimize human impacts upon them. I am currently investigating the habitat use of juvenile sea turtles in Pamlico Sound, NC and their interaction with commercial fisheries. Not only do I enjoy getting up at 4am, driving to remote locations, and loitering around haunted fish houses, but I do this also because little is truly known about how sea turtles use the habitat that fishers also depend upon. Using satellite telemetry, I track the movements of loggerhead, green, and Kemp's ridley sea turtles in the inshore waters where several fisheries co-occur. I am also investigating turtles' seasonal migrations which have led me to explore the Gulf Stream and the Eastern Atlantic (Canary Islands). I use GIS and spatial analysis to examine their ecology. See http://seamap.env.duke.edu/datasets/detail/316.

For my master's degree I looked at the influence of hypoxia on habitat use of juvenile southern flounder in the Neuse River, NC using ultrasonic telemetry. I was a research technician for many years and prior to coming to the Marine Lab I worked on fish and aquatic macrophytes in small and large Wisconsin lakes.

Publications:

• Wallace, B.P., L. Avens, J. Braun-McNeill and C.M. McClellan. 2009. The diet composition of immature loggerheads: insights on trophic niche, growth rates, and fisheries interactions. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology 373:50-57.
  
• McClellan, C.M. and A.J. Read. In Press. Confronting the gauntlet: Understanding incidental capture of green turtles through fine-scale movement studies. Endangered Species Research.
• McClellan, C.M., A.J. Read, B.A. Price, W.M. Cluse and M.H. Godfrey. In Press. Using telemetry to mitigate the by-catch of long-lived marine vertebrates. Ecological Applications.
• Schick, R.S., S.R. Loarie, F. Colchero, B.D. Best, A. Boustany, D.A. Conde, P.N. Halpin, L.N. Joppa, C.M. McClellan and J.S. Clark. 2008. Understanding movement data and movement processes: current and emerging directions. Ecology Letters 11:1338-1350. (doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01249.x)
• McClellan, C.M. and A. J. Read. 2007. Complexity and variation in loggerhead sea turtle life history. Biology Letters 3: 592-594.
• Kelly T.K., C.A. Harms, C. Lemons, C. McClellan, A.A. Hohn. 2006. Influence of preoperative oxytetracycline administration on community composition and antimicrobial susceptibility of cloacal bacterial flora of loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, post-hatchlings. Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery Vol. 16: 9-14.
• Eby LA, Crowder LB, McClellan CM, Peterson CH, Powers MJ. 2005. Habitat degradation from intermittent hypoxia: impacts on demersal fishes. Marine Ecological Progress Series 291: 249-261.
• Ramus J, Eby LA, McClellan CM, Crowder LB, 2003. Phytoplankton forcing by a record freshwater discharge event into a large lagoonal estuary. Estuaries 26:1344-1352.

Hobbies:
Hobbies: I love spending my life with my wonderful husband, Mike, and our menagerie. When I'm not doing field work I like to travel, read mysteries, take bike rides or walks in the woods, garden, and bake tarts.

I have a passion for cheese -- part of my Wisconsin heritage.
Gruyere
Boursin
Asiago
Camembert
Colby
Gouda