In recognition of his research, he was made an Alfred Deakin Professor in 2014, the most prestigious honour that Deakin University bestows on its staff.[6]
According to the 2020 science-wide standardized citation indicator, developed by
Stanford University academic
John P.A. Ioannidis and colleagues, Hays was listed in the top 30 most cited marine biologists in the world.[5]
His research expedition to
Ascension Island in 1997 for
satellite tracking studies of
green turtles to examine questions of turtle navigation first posed by
Charles Darwin,[7] became the subject of a best-selling book Turtle Island: A Visit To Britain’s Oddest Colony by Sergio Ghione.[8]
Two first-day issues of postage stamps have been dedicated to his research on sea turtles.[9]
In 2022 Hays received the
Scopus Outstanding Researcher Award (Australia & New Zealand) for Excellence in Research Impacting a Sustainable Future.[10] The award recognised his research that "Uses satellite tracking to reveal the movements and patterns of habitat use by marine animals and highlights the threats of climate change for sea turtles".
Research work
Sea turtle satellite tracking
In 1990 he conducted one of the first satellite tracking studies of sea turtles[11] and subsequently used this approach to assess their navigational abilities,[1][12] including at-sea experiments,[13] and to reveal how ocean currents affect movements and so influence migration patterns.[14]
Leading international review teams he has shown how satellite tracking can be widely used, across diverse animal taxa, to understand movement patterns and drive successful
conservation outcomes for endangered species.[15][16]
His research has developed methods to assess how climate warming is affecting the temperature-dependent
sex ratios of sea turtle hatchlings and the likely impacts of population
feminisation.[2][17]
Recent research also shows how the long-distance movements of sea turtles can take them outside of even the largest
marine reserves and into ocean areas with no protection from poaching or fishing gear entanglements,[18] raising conservation concerns.[19]
Plankton long-term changes and diel vertical migration
Hays’ research has provided some of the key evidence for understanding that predator-evasion underpins
zooplankton diel vertical migrations,[5][20] which is the largest animal migration (by biomass) on the planet.
^
abLaloë, Jacques-Olivier; Cozens, Jacquie; Renom, Berta; Taxonera, Albert; Hays, Graeme C. (2014). "Effects of rising temperature on the viability of an important sea turtle rookery". Nature Climate Change. 4 (6): 513–518.
Bibcode:
2014NatCC...4..513L.
doi:
10.1038/NCLIMATE2236.