I am a marine biologist working on penguin foraging behaviour in relation to oceanography at South Georgia, Kerguelen and Crozet in the south Atlantic and Indian Ocean. I first came to BAS in 2007 for my MSc project on the foraging behaviour of king penguins at South Georgia, and continued in a PhD with BAS and the Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé (France) on the foraging behaviour of king penguins at South Georgia and Kerguelen during 2009-2013.

My dissertation focused on the penguin’s surface and diving behaviour in order to investigate key oceanographic features for foraging king penguins at the ocean surface (fronts, eddies) and at depth (thermocline, different water masses) in the Atlantic and Indian sector of the Southern Ocean. I further investigated how the birds may respond to changes in their environment, particularly in the identified key oceanographic features.

Since October 2013 I have been employed as a post-doctoral researcher under the EU BEST initiative in a collaborative project between BAS, the Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé and BirdLife International, working on foraging habitat modelling of macaroni penguins at South Georgia, Crozet and Kerguelen. I am investigating the penguin’s foraging habitat during the different breeding stages over the year (incubation, broodguard, crèche, pre-moult and winter migration), and am trying to identify important oceanographic features characterizing the bird’s foraging habitat. The results of my work will be used to propose Important Bird Areas (IBAs) for macaroni penguins in the Atlantic and Indian sectors of the Southern Ocean.

Education:

2009 – 2013: PhD, “Foraging behaviour of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) in relation to oceanography at South Georgia and Kerguelen”, The Open University, UK.

2006-2007: Master in Oceanography, speciality Marine Biology and Ecology, at the Centre of Oceanography of Marseilles, University of Aix-Marseille II, France.

2004-2006: Bachelor in Marine and Environmental Sciences, speciality Biology – Ecology, at the Centre of Oceanography of Marseilles, University of Aix-Marseille II, France.

2002-2004: Diploma in Biology, University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

2000-2002: Diploma in Computer Sciences at the Institute of Technology in Mannheim, Germany.

Research interests

• Behavioural ecology of marine predators: surface movements and diving behaviour
• Oceanographic processes impacting marine predator’s behaviour at the surface and at depth
• Behavioural responses of animals to environmental change
• Foraging habitat modelling

Papers:
Scheffer A, Trathan PN, Edmonston JG, Bost CA (in review): Combined influence of meso-scale circulation and bathymetry on the foraging behaviour of a diving predator, the king penguin. In review in Progress in Oceanography.

Scheffer A, Bost CA, Trathan PN (2012): Frontal zones, temperature gradient and depth characterize the foraging habitat of king penguins at South Georgia. Marine Ecology Progress Series 465, 281-297.
Bost CA, Goarant A, Scheffer A, Koubbi P, Duhamel G, Charrassin JB (2011): Foraging habitat and performances of king penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus Miller, 1778 at Kerguelen islands in relation to climatic variability. In: The Kerguelen Plateau: Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries (Duhamel G & Welsford D Eds), Société d’Ichtyologie, 199-202.
Scheffer A, Trathan PN, Collins M (2010): Foraging behaviour of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) in relation to predictable meso-scale oceanographic features in the Polar Front Zone to the north of South Georgia. Progress in Oceanography 86, 232-245, Special Issue Climate Impact on Top Marine Predators.

Talks and posters:
Scheffer A, Bost CA, Lascelles B, Trathan P, Ratcliffe N: Foraging areas of macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus) in the south Atlantic and south Indian Ocean. Oral presentation at the British Ornithologists’ Union Annual Conference in Leicester, UK, 04/2015.

Scheffer A, Bost CA, Lascelles B, Trathan P, Ratcliffe N: Foraging areas of macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus) in the south Atlantic and south Indian Ocean. Oral presentation at the Pacific Seabird Group Annual Meeting in San Jose, California, 02/2015.

Scheffer A, Bost CA, Lascelles B, Trathan P, Ratcliffe N: Foraging areas of macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus) in the south Atlantic and south Indian Ocean. Oral presentation at the 5th Biologging Symposium, Strasbourg, France, 09/2014.
Scheffer A, Trathan PN, Bost CA: Foraging behaviour of king penguins at Kerguelen island in relation to oceanography and environmental variability. Oral presentation at the 8th International Penguin Conference in Bristol, UK, 09/2013.
Bost CA, Scheffer A, Peron C, Terray P, Cotte C: Penguins and climatic variability: foraging responses of king penguins at Crozet and Kerguelen islands. Oral presentation at the 8th International Penguin Conference in Bristol, UK, 09/2013.
Scheffer A, Trathan PN, Bost CA: Foraging behaviour of king penguins at Kerguelen island in relation to environmental variability. Oral presentation at the 4th Biologging Symposium in Hobart, Tasmania, 03/2011.
Bost CA, Goarant A, Scheffer A, Koubbi P, Duhamel G, Charrassin JB: Foraging habitat and performances of king penguins Aptenodytes patagonicus at Kerguelen islands in relation to climatic variability. Oral presentation at the 1st international Science Symposium on the Kerguelen Plateau, Concarneau, France, 04/2010.
Scheffer A, Trathan PN, Collins M: Foraging behaviour of king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) in relation to predictable meso-scale oceanographic features in the Polar Front Zone to the north of South Georgia. Poster presentation at the CLIOTOP Symposium in La Paz, Mexico 12/2007.

Future accepted talks:

Scheffer A, Bost CA, Lascelles B, Trathan P, Ratcliffe N: Foraging areas of macaroni penguins (Eudyptes chrysolophus) in the south Atlantic and south Indian Ocean. Oral presentation at the World Seabird Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, 10/2015.

Publications from NERC Open Research Archive