New publication: Variable hawksbill migratory behavior

I am happy to share that a chapter of my dissertation was just published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. The paper disseminates the results of a multi-year effort to track the post-nesting migrations of hawksbills from the Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project (Antigua, Eastern Caribbean). Interestingly, we observed a wide range of migratory strategies, from remaining within a stone’s throw of Antigua’s coast, to crossing the entire Caribbean basin. After migrating, turtles “hunker down” within a relatively small home range area and essentially stay in this fixed location until their next breeding migration. Our work, combined with historical tracking of a handful of individuals (published in 2022), gives us an idea of where our turtles forage, which is important for understanding patterns of survival and reproductive output that we ascertain at the nesting beach. The map included above illustrates the core results, with migratory tracks and destinations for all turtles tracked. This project was supported by a long list of people, foremost my coauthors Dr. Jeffrey Seminoff, Dr. Martha Burford Reiskind, and Dr. Seth Stapleton.

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Presentation @ Aquarium of the Pacific

On October 4, I teamed up with my colleague Dr. Cali Turner Tomascewicz to give a talk to a sold out house as part of the “First Wednesday” lecture series at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

Our talk, broadly titled “Sea turtles of California: What we know and how we are learning more,” was live-streamed on Youtube. It is now archived, and you can check it out HERE. A big shout out to Cali, as well as the AoP organizers who ran the event, in particular Adina Metz.

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New publication: Hawksbill satellite tracks from Antigua and Jamaica

My coauthors and I recently had an article published in the Caribbean Journal of Science. Our paper makes use of satellite tracking data collected on post-nesting hawksbill sea turtles over 1998-2001. Eight individuals were tracked from Antigua and Jamaica as part of a collaborative project between NOAA and multiple Caribbean sea turtle programs, but these data were never published. We are excited to disseminate the information on critically endangered hawksbills! The above map shows the migrations of the four Jamaican turtles—check out the paper itself for more.

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New publication: Effects of urbanization on key deer

I am excited to share that my collaborators and I just had a new article come out in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. The article, titled “Urbanization affects the behavior of a predator-free ungulate in protected lands,” details changes in important key deer behaviors in close proximity to urban areas. We also highlight how the Florida Keys ecosystems lack terrestrial apex predators, providing a kind of “control” system for assessing impacts of urbanization on deer without confounding effects from predators. This work came to fruition via close collaboration with my coauthors Dr. Mike Cove, Olivia Siegal, and Dr. Marcus Lashley. I was a technician for Mike’s dissertation research many moons ago, and we have revisited his datasets for several papers over the past few years—check out my research pages for more.

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Media coverage: “Seaweed is putting sea turtles in a hot mess”

Hakai Magazine just published a short piece relaying some of the findings of our recent scientific journal article: “Beached Sargassum alters sand thermal environments: Implications for incubating sea turtle eggs.” The author of the Hakai piece, Richard Kemeny, does a nice job putting the content into a popular science format. It was also awesome to see a a quote included from scientist who I admire a great deal, Dr. Stephanie Kamel (UNC Wilmington). So a shout out to her! We hosted her for a seminar during my PhD days at NC State—she gave a super interesting talk and was a pleasure to spend some time with.

If you missed the link above, here it is again: Hakai Magazine article

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New publication: Sargassum affects incubation temperatures

I am excited to share a new article out in the Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. In it, my coauthors and I assess how Sargassum macroalgae, when washed up onto beaches, affects the incubation environment of sea turtle eggs. With so much Sargassum inundating shorelines in the Tropical North Atlantic, and given that incubation temperatures affect hatchling sex and survival, we hope our results can provide useful information to researchers and nesting beach managers in the region. Big thanks to my coauthors Dr. Kevin Gross and Dr. Seth Stapleton!

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New publication: Sargassum impedes nesting turtles

Hot off the press, my collaborators and I just had a new article come out in the journal Climate Change Ecology. The title does a good job of summarizing the big take home message: The Atlantic Sargassum invasion impedes beach access for nesting sea turtles. My coauthers (Dr. Seth Stapleton, Dr. Craig Layman, and Dr. Martha Burford Reiskind) and I focus on the hawksbill rookery at Jumby Bay, Antigua, to show how coastal Sargassum accumulation affects spatiotemporal patterns in nesting. Stay posted for more Sargassum-related work coming out soon.

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P. h. Done! and a NOAA postdoctoral position ahead

On June 25, I gave an exit seminar and defended my dissertation to complete my PhD at NC State (title slide pictured above). It has been a terrific 5.5 years here, and I am excited for the next step. I will be joining NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, CA as an NRC Postdoctoral Associate. Working with Dr. Jeff Seminoff and the Marine Turtle Ecology & Assessment Program, I will contribute to several projects, many featuring stable isotope tools.

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New publication: population viability of sea turtles in the context of global warming

I am excited to share a new review out in the journal BioScience. In it, my coauthors and I explore what global warming means for sea turtle populations. We highlight fascinating new research but also point out key areas that still limit our understanding. A shout out to the team of coauthors that made this work possible: Dr. Jeff Seminoff, Dr. Craig Layman, Dr. Seth Stapleton, Dr. Matthew Godfrey, and Dr. Martha Burford Reiskind. This is the first chapter of my dissertation and I am pumped to see it published.

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New publication: sand organic matter

Hot off the press, I recently published a short paper with my coauthor Dr. Seth Stapleton that describes how gradients in sand organic matter on Caribbean beaches match gradients in color. This is a very simple premise, but by quantitatively proving a relationship exists rather than just assuming, we hope this may help beach managers make quick decisions at their sites. Sand is limited in organic nutrients relative to other sediment types, so understanding the distribution of organic matter on beaches can be especially important for certain studies and management efforts. Fieldwork was completed in Antigua in collaboration with the Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project.

Check out the paper HERE!

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