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Ecology and Evolution
South Africa
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
90
Citations
34551
World Ranking
471
National Ranking
5

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in South Africa Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in South Africa Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in South Africa Leader Award
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa

Overview

Peter G. Ryan is affiliated with the University of Cape Town in South Africa. Their research primarily falls within the field of Environmental Science, with a focus on several subfields including Ecology, Nature and Landscape Conservation, Pollution, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, and Genetics.

The main topics Peter G. Ryan has explored in their publications encompass:

  • Avian ecology and behavior
  • Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
  • Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Fish Ecology and Management Studies
  • Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
  • Species Distribution and Climate Change
  • Genetic diversity and population structure

Peter G. Ryan has contributed to multiple research papers, including notable recent publications such as:

  • The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris (2020), published in Environmental Research Letters
  • Dense sampling of bird diversity increases power of comparative genomics (2020), published in Nature
  • Microfibers in oceanic surface waters: A global characterization (2020), published in Science Advances
  • Tracking of marine predators to protect Southern Ocean ecosystems (2020), published in Nature
  • Floating macro- and microplastics around the Southern Ocean: Results from the Antarctic Circumnavigation Expedition (2020), published in Environment International

Frequent co-authors collaborating with Peter G. Ryan include:

  • Guy M. Kirwan
  • Ben J. Dilley
  • Vonica Perold
  • Richard A. Phillips
  • Henri Weimerskirch

Their work has been frequently published in venues such as:

  • Birds of the World
  • Ostrich
  • Marine Pollution Bulletin
  • Environmental Pollution
  • Marine ornithology

Peter G. Ryan has been recognized as a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, highlighting their engagement and standing within the scientific community.

Best Publications

  • Plastic Pollution in the World's Oceans: More than 5 Trillion Plastic Pieces Weighing over 250,000 Tons Afloat at Sea

    Marcus Eriksen;Laurent C. M. Lebreton;Henry S. Carson;Martin Thiel

  • Monitoring the abundance of plastic debris in the marine environment

    Peter G. Ryan;Charles J. Moore;Jan A. van Franeker;Coleen L. Moloney

  • The physical oceanography of the transport of floating marine debris

    Erik van Sebille;Stefano Aliani;Kara Lavender Law;Nikolai Maximenko

  • Biofouling on buoyant marine plastics: An experimental study into the effect of size on surface longevity.

    Francesca M.C. Fazey;Peter G. Ryan

  • Dense sampling of bird diversity increases power of comparative genomics.

    Shaohong Feng;Josefin Stiller;Yuan Deng;Joel Armstrong;Joel Armstrong

  • Microfibers in oceanic surface waters: A global characterization

    Giuseppe Suaria;Aikaterini Achtypi;Vonica Perold;Jasmine R. Lee

  • A Brief History of Marine Litter Research

    Peter G. Ryan

  • Global research priorities to mitigate plastic pollution impacts on marine wildlife

    Amanda C Vegter;Mario Barletta;Cathy A Beck;Jose Carlos Borrero

  • The incidence and characteristics of plastic particles ingested by seabirds

    Peter G. Ryan

  • Offshore diplomacy, or how seabirds mitigate intra-specific competition: a case study based on GPS tracking of Cape gannets from neighbouring colonies

    David Gremillet;Giacomo Dell'omo;Peter G. Ryan;Gerrit Peters

  • Plastic ingestion and PCBs in seabirds: Is there a relationship?

    Peter G. Ryan;A.D. Connell;B.D. Gardner

  • Antarctica’s ecological isolation will be broken by storm-driven dispersal and warming

    Ceridwen I. Fraser;Adele K. Morrison;Andrew Mc C. Hogg;Erasmo C. Macaya

  • A junk-food hypothesis for gannets feeding on fishery waste

    David Grémillet;David Grémillet;Lorien Pichegru;Lorien Pichegru;Grégoire Kuntz;Anthony G Woakes

  • Spatial match–mismatch in the Benguela upwelling zone: should we expect chlorophyll and sea-surface temperature to predict marine predator distributions?

    David Grémillet;David Grémillet;Sue Lewis;Laurent Drapeau;Carl D. Van Der Lingen

  • Effects of ingested plastic on seabird feeding: Evidence from chickens

    P.G. Ryan

  • Does size and buoyancy affect the long-distance transport of floating debris?

    Peter G Ryan

  • Birds of Africa : South of the Sahara

    Ian Sinclair;Peter Ryan

  • Can predation by invasive mice drive seabird extinctions

    Ross M Wanless;Andrea Angel;Richard J Cuthbert;Richard J Cuthbert;Geoff M Hilton

  • Tracking of marine predators to protect Southern Ocean ecosystems

    Mark A. Hindell;Ryan R. Reisinger;Ryan R. Reisinger;Yan Ropert-Coudert;Luis A. Hückstädt

  • Diving Birds in Cold Water: Do Archimedes and Boyle Determine Energetic Costs?

    Rory P. Wilson;Kit Hustler;Peter G. Ryan;Alan E. Burger

  • Exploitation of mesoscale oceanographic features by grey-headed albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma in the southern Indian Ocean

    D. C. Nel;J. R. E. Lutjeharms;E. A. Pakhomov;I. J. Ansorge

Frequent Co-Authors

David Grémillet
David Grémillet Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS
Richard A. Phillips
Richard A. Phillips British Antarctic Survey
Coleen L. Moloney
Coleen L. Moloney University of Cape Town
Alexander L. Bond
Alexander L. Bond Natural History Museum
Yan Ropert-Coudert
Yan Ropert-Coudert Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS
Marthán N Bester
Marthán N Bester University of Pretoria
Akiko Kato
Akiko Kato University of La Rochelle
Henri Weimerskirch
Henri Weimerskirch Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS
Jacob González-Solís
Jacob González-Solís University of Barcelona
Robert J. M. Crawford
Robert J. M. Crawford University of Cape Town

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