Dr Clive McMahon

BSc, MSc, PhD, PGCert (Vet Cons Med)

• Research Interests
• Current Projects
• Students
• Publications
  • Papers
  • Books
  • Other

Research interests

Clive is research scientist primarily interested in the population and behavioural ecology of large vertebrates and has focused his research on the demographic responses of wide-ranging marine animals (e.g. seals and turtles.) to changes in climate. Clive has been especially interested in how marine predator populations respond demographically (changes in survival, fecundity and numbers) to changing climatic conditions by using natural variations in climate such as ENSO as proxies for broader climate change predictions. In addition to this he is also interested in quantifying and documenting the distribution of animals in response to changes in global temperatures to contribute to the conservation of pan oceanic predators such a leatherback turtles. Clive is currently investing the population dynamics of a common invasive bovid – the Asian swamp buffalo, in the Northern Territory. This works aims to provide mangers and researchers with vital life-history information to mange the damage caused by buffalo in Northern Australia and to provide insights into effective management and density reduction to limit the possible spread of exotic diseases introduced into Australia.

A key issue when studying wild animals is the concern that people feel for the animals and the welfare of those research animals. Clive is very interested in assessing and defining the ethics of acceptable practise and the welfare of animals when capturing and researching wild animals. This is a fertile and emerging area of study especially given that ecosystems and wild animal populations are under ever increasing pressures and perturbations by humans and many require intensive and urgent study.

Current projects

• Ecology of feral animals in west Arnhem Land
• Foraging ecology and diving physiology of marine turtles in northern Australia (University of Wales Swansea)
• Interpreting the impact of climate change on marine biological systems (University of Wales Swansea)
• SEaOS (Southern Elephant Seals as Oceanographic Samplers) is an international inter-disciplinary program aimed at increasing our understanding of how southern elephant seals interact with their physical environment. (http://biology.st-andrews.ac.uk/seaos/)

Students

Co-supervisor for Ms Caitlin Vertigan (PhD) University of Tasmania – Thesis title: Scale dependent effects of environmental variation in two sympatrically breeding seabird species in Tasmania.

Publications

Peer-reviewed papers

Peer-reviewed Papers (50)
Current H Index = 13

McMahon, C.R., Bester, M.N., Hindell, M.A., Brook, B.W. and Bradshaw, C.J.A. (in press) Shifting trends: detecting environmentally mediated regulation in long-lived marine vertebrates using time-series data. Oecologia DOI 10.1007/s00442-008-1205-9.

Charrassin, J.-B., Hindell, M. A., Rintoul, S. R., Roquet, F., Sokolov, S., Biuw, M., Costa, D., Boehme, L., Lovell, P., Coleman, R., Timmerman, R., Meijers, A., Meredith, M., Park, Y.-H., Bailleul, F., Goebel, M., Tremblay, Y., Bost, C.-A., McMahon, C. R., Field, I. C., Fedak, M. & Guinet, C. (2008) Southern Ocean frontal structure and sea ice formation rates revealed by elephant seals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 105, 11634–11639.

McMahon, C. R., Field, I. C., Hindell, M. A., de Little, S. C. & Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2008) Guarding against oversimplifying the fundamental drivers of southern elephant seal population dynamics Journal of Biogeography, 35, 1738-1740.

McMahon, C. R. & Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2008) To catch a buffalo: field immobilisation of Asian swamp buffalo using etorphine and xylazine. Australian Veterinary Journal, 86, 235-241.

McMahon, C. R., Field, I. C., Bradshaw, C. J. A., White, G. C. & Hindell, M. A. (2008) Tracking and data-logging devices attached to elephant seals do not affect individual mass gain or survival Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 360, 71–77.

Hamel, M. A., McMahon, C. R. & Bradshaw, C. J. A. (2008) Flexible inter-nesting behaviour of generalist olive ridley turtles in Australia. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 359, 47-54.

Hobson, V. J., McMahon, C. R., Richardson, A. & Hays, G. C. (2008) Ocean surface warming: the North Atlantic remains within the envelope of previous recorded conditions. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers, 55, 155-162.

McMahon, C. R. (2007) Branding the seal branders: what does the research say about seal branding? Australian Veterinary Journal, 85, 482-484.

Hochscheid, S., McMahon, C. R., Bradshaw, C. J. A., Maffucci, F., Bentivegna, F. & Hays, G. C. (2007) Allometric scaling of lung volume and its consequences for marine turtle diving performance. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology, 148, 360-367. DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2007.05.010

Bailleul F, Charrassin J-B, Ezraty R, Girard-Ardhuin F, McMahon CR, Field IC, Guinet C. (2007) Southern elephant seals from Kerguelen Islands confronted by Antarctic Sea ice. Changes in movements and in diving behaviour. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 54, 343-355. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2006.11.005

Bradshaw CJA, Brook BW, McMahon CR (2007) Dangers of sensationalizing conservation biology. Conservation Biology 21, 570-571 DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00698.x

Bradshaw CJA, McMahon CR, Hays GC (2007) Behavioral inference of diving metabolic rate in free-ranging leatherback turtles. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 80, 209-219. DOI: 10.1086/511142

de Little SC, Bradshaw CJA, McMahon CR, Hindell MA (2007) Complex interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of long-term survival trends in southern elephant seals. BMC Ecology 7:3. DOI: 10.1186/1472-6785-7-3

McMahon CR, Bradshaw CJA, Hays GC (2007) Applying the heat to research techniques for species conservation. Conservation Biology 21, 271-273. DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00566.x

McMahon CR, Bradshaw CJA, Hays GC (2007) Satellite tracking reveals unusual diving characteristics for a marine reptile, the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea). Marine Ecology Progress Series 329, 239-252. (.pdf 2MB)

Wilson RP, Liebsch N, Davies IM, Quintana F, Weimerskirch H, Storch S, Lucke K, Siebert U, Zankl S, Muller G, Zimmer I, Scolaro A, Campagna C, Plotz J, Bornemann H, Teilmann J, McMahon CR (2007) All at sea with animal tracks; methodological and analytical solutions for the resolution of movement. Deep Sea Research Part II: Topical Studies in Oceanography 54,193-210. DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2006.11.017

Bradshaw CJA, McMahon CR, Brook BW (2006) The devil in the (demographic) detail. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 5, 235-235.

McMahon CR (2006) War of the roses: towards a holistic view of invasive species management. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 5, 237-237.

McMahon CR, Bradshaw CJA, Hays GC (2006) Branding can be justified in vital conservation research. Nature 439, 392-392. DOI: 10.1038/439392c

McMahon CR, Burton HR, van den Hoff J, Woods R, Bradshaw CJA (2006) Assessing hot-iron and cryo-branding for permanently marking southern elephant seals. Journal of Wildlife Management 70, 1484-1489. DOI: 10.2193/0022-541X(2006)70[1484:AHACFP]2.0.CO;2

McMahon CR, Hays GC (2006) Thermal niche, large-scale movements and implications of climate change for a critically endangered marine vertebrate. Global Change Biology 12, 1330-1338. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01174.x

Wilson RP, McMahon CR (2006) Measuring devices on wild animals: what constitutes acceptable practice? Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 4, 147-154. DOI: 10.1890/1540-9295(2006)004[0147:MDOWAW]2.0.CO;2

McMahon CR, Autret E, Houghton JDR, Lovell P, Myers AE, Hays GC (2005) Animal-borne sensors successfully capture the real-time thermal properties of ocean basins. Limnology and Oceanography-Methods 3, 392-398.

McMahon CR, Bester MN, Burton HR, Hindell MA, Bradshaw CJA (2005) Population status, trends and a re-examination of the hypotheses explaining the recent declines of the southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina. Mammal Review 35, 82-100. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2907.2005.00055.x

McMahon CR, Burton HR (2005) Climate change and seal survival: evidence for environmentally mediated changes in elephant seal, Mirounga leonina, pup survival. Proceedings of the Royal Society B-Biological Sciences 272, 923-928. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.3038

McMahon CR, Hindell MA, Burton HR, Bester MN (2005) Comparison of southern elephant seal populations, and observations of a population on a demographic knife-edge. Marine Ecology-Progress Series 288, 273-283.

McMahon C, van den Hoff J, Burton H (2005) Handling intensity and the short- and long-term survival of elephant seals: Addressing and quantifying research effects on wild animals. Ambio 34, 426-429.

Van den Hoff J, Fraccaro R, Mitchell P, Field I, McMahon C, Burton H, Blanchard W, Duignan P, Rogers T (2005) Estimating body mass and condition of leopard seals by allometrics. Journal of Wildlife Management 69, 1015-1023. DOI: 10.2193/0022-541X(2005)069[1015:EBMACO]2.0.CO;2

McMahon CR, Bradshaw CJA (2004) Harem choice and breeding experience of female southern elephant seals influence offspring survival. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 55, 349-362.

van den Hoff J, Sumner MD, Field IC, Bradshaw CJA, Burton HR, McMahon CR (2004) Temporal changes in the quality of hot-iron brands on elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) pups. Wildlife Research 31, 619-629.

McMahon CR, Burton HR, Bester MN (2003) A demographic comparison of two southern elephant seal populations. Journal of Animal Ecology 72, 61-74.

McMahon CR, Hindell M (2003) Twinning in southern elephant seals: the implications of resource allocation by mothers. Wildlife Research 30, 35-39.

Bradshaw CJA, McMahon CR, Hindell MA, Pistorius PA, Bester MN (2002) Do southern elephant seals show density dependence in fecundity? Polar Biology 25, 650-655.

Field IC, Bradshaw CJA, McMahon CR, Harrington J, Burton HR (2002) Effects of age, size and condition of elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) on their intravenous anaesthesia with tiletamine and zolazepam. Veterinary Record 151, 235-240.

McMahon C, Hindell M, Dorr T, Massom RA (2002) Winter distribution and abundance of crabeater seals off George V Land, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science 14, 128-133.

van den Hoff J, Burton HR, Hindell MA, Sumner MD, McMahon CR (2002) Migrations and foraging of juvenile southern elephant seals from Macquarie Island within CCAMLR managed areas. Antarctic Science 14, 134-145.

Linn ML, Gardner J, Warrilow D, Darnell GA, McMahon CR, Field I, Hyatt AD, Slade RW, Suhrbier A (2001) Arbovirus of marine mammals: a new alphavirus isolated from the elephant seal louse, Lepidophthirus macrorhini. Journal of Virology 75, 4103-4109.

Burton H, McMahon CR, van den Hoff J (2000) Seals: Antarctic Division's view. Australian Veterinary Journal 78, 525-526.

Hindell MA, Lea M-A, Morrice MG, McMahon CR (2000) Metabolic limits on dive duration and swimming speed in the southern elephant seal Mirounga leonina. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 73, 790-798.

Hindell MA, McMahon CR (2000) Long distance movement of a southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina) from Macquarie Island to Peter 1 Øy. Marine Mammal Science 16, 504-507.

McMahon CR, Burton H, McLean S, Slip D, Bester M (2000) Field immobilisation of southern elephant seals with intravenous tiletamine and zolazepam. Veterinary Record 146, 251-254.

McMahon CR, Burton HR, Bester MN (2000) Weaning mass and the future survival of juvenile southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, at Macquarie Island. Antarctic Science 12, 149-153.

McMahon CR, Campbell D (2000) Southern elephant seals breeding at Peterson Island, Antarctica. Polar Record 36, 51-51.

McMahon CR, Field I, Dorr T, Hammond C, Washington D (2000) Hook and nose: an interaction between a male southern elephant seals and a long-line fishery. Polar Record 36, 250-252.

Hindell MA, McConnell BJ, Fedak MA, Slip DJ, Burton HR, Reijnders PJH, McMahon CR (1999) Environmental and physiological determinants of successful foraging by naive southern elephant seal pups during their first trip to sea. Canadian Journal of Zoology-Revue Canadienne De Zoologie 77, 1807-1821.

McMahon CR, Burton HR, Bester MN (1999) First-year survival of southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, at sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Polar Biology 21, 279-284.

McMahon CR, Holley D, Robinson S (1999) The diet of itinerant male Hooker's sea lions, Phocarctos hookeri, at sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Wildlife Research 26, 839-846.

McMahon CR, Thackeray JF (1994) PlioPleistocene Hyracoidea from Swartkrans Cave, South-Africa. South African Journal of Zoology 29, 40-45.

Books

Book chapters

Bradshaw, C.J.A., McMahon, C.R. (2008). Population Ecology: Fecundity. In: Encyclopaedia of Ecology: (eds S.E. Jørgensen & B.D. Fath), pp. 1535-1543. Elsevier, Oxford.

McMahon CR, van den Hoff J, Burton HR, Davis PD (1997) Evidence for precocious development in female pups of the southern elephant seal, Mirounga leonina, at Macquarie Island. In 'Marine mammal research in the southern hemisphere volume 1: status ecology and medicine'. (Eds MA Hindell and C Kemper) pp. 92-96. (Surrey Beatty & Sons: Chipping Norton)

Other

1. McMahon, C.R., Wilson, R.P., (2006). Peer Review and Fair Evaluation. E-Letter to Science. (full text)