About
24
Publications
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Introduction
As a coastal ecologist, I'm particularly in the management of threatened and endangered species. Through my work, I hope to find better ways for us to balance the human use and continued function of coastal ecosystems. I often use geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and environmental modelling in collaboration with stakeholders and citizen science groups to explore abundance, behavioral, and distribution patterns in organisms and their environmental or anthropogenic drivers.
Current institution
Additional affiliations
October 2022 - July 2024
Position
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Description
- Conducted postdoctoral research investigating sea turtle habitat suitability in southeastern North Carolina, including Bald Head and Masonboro Islands, in collaboration with the Bald Head Island Conservancy and the North Carolina Coastal Reserve.
August 2016 - September 2022
Education
January 2016 - May 2019
August 2012 - July 2015
August 2008 - May 2012
Publications
Publications (24)
Warming temperatures due to climate change are feminizing sea turtle primary sex ratios, reducing hatchling fitness, and, in extreme cases, limiting hatchling production, including for temperate nesting species such as loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta). Though more females may lead to short‐term population growth through increased egg production...
Sandy coastal beaches are an important nesting habitat for marine turtles and a known sink for plastic pollution. Existing methodologies for monitoring the spatiotemporal patterns of abundance and composition of plastic are, however, disparate. We engaged a global network of marine turtle scientists to implement a large-scale sampling effort to ass...
Marine turtles are vital to marine ecosystems, serving as indicators of ocean health and contributing to the ecological balance of marine habitats (Aguirre and Lutz, 2004). However, the Anthropocene has introduced a multitude of human-induced stressors on natural systems, necessitating innovative solutions to mitigate these impacts (Davenport, 2024...
Sea turtles are an iconic group of marine megafauna that have been exposed to multiple anthropogenic threats across their different life stages, especially in the past decades. This has resulted in population declines, and consequently many sea turtle populations are now classified as threatened or endangered globally. Although some populations of...
Introduction
Microplastics (i.e., plastic debris smaller than 5mm) found in coastal areas can impact the marine habitat used by endangered species since they may alter sand properties including temperature and permeability. Such alterations may pose a significant threat to marine turtle populations as nest productivity, sexual development, and hatc...
Sandy areas between rocky uplands, or natural pocket beaches, provide important habitat for coastal wildlife. On developed coasts, similar sandy areas, called urban pocket beaches, occur in the gaps between properties with coastal armoring (sea walls or revetments). These urban pocket beaches provide important nesting, foraging, and resting habitat...
Population size estimates are key parameters used in assessments to evaluate and determine a species’ conservation status. Typically, sea turtle population estimates are made from nesting beach surveys which capture only hatchling and adult female life stages and can display trends opposite of the full population. As such, in-water studies are crit...
Population size estimates are key parameters used in assessments to evaluate and determine a species' conservation status. Typically, sea turtle population estimates are made from nesting beach surveys which capture only hatchling and adult female life stages and can display trends opposite of the full population. As such, in-water studies are crit...
Wave wash-over poses a significant threat to sea turtle nests, with sustained exposure to waves potentially resulting in embryonic mortality and altered hatchling locomotor function, size, and sex ratios. Identifying where and under what conditions wave exposure becomes a problem, and deciding what action(s) to take (if any), is a common issue for...
Management of imperiled species facing spatiotemporally dynamic threats is difficult. Systems thinking can inform their management by quantifying the impacts that they face. We apply systems thinking to the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGM) loggerhead (Caretta caretta) Recovery Unit (RU), one of the smallest subpopulations of loggerheads nesting in the...
Point 1: Stereo-video camera systems (SVCSs) are a promising tool to remotely measure body size of wild animals without the need for animal handling. Here, we assessed the accuracy of SVCSs for measuring straight carapace length (SCL) of sea turtles.
Point 2: To achieve this, we hand captured and measured 63 juvenile, subadult, and adult sea turtle...
Sea turtles and boating activities often occur in shared waters. This is problematic because sea turtles are susceptible to vessel strikes since they spend significant portions of their lives in nearshore shallow water to breathe, reproduce, and feed. Targeted conservation strategies are needed to reduce vessel strikes on sea turtles, and successfu...
Sea turtles migrate thousands of miles annually between foraging and breeding areas, carrying dozens of epibiont species with them on their journeys. Most sea turtle epibiont studies have focused on large-sized organisms, those visible to the naked eye. Here, we report previously undocumented levels of epibiont abundance and biodiversity for logger...
Significant population declines in Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata began in the 1970s and now exceed over 90%. The losses were caused by a combination of coral disease and bleaching, with possible contributions from other stressors, including pollution and predation. Reproduction in the wild by fragment regeneration and sexual recruitment is in...
Coastal environments provide critical ecosystem services but experience a number of
threats including marine debris and abandoned beach equipment. To address this threat, municipalities have begun enacting policy measures such as Leave No Trace ordinances. The impact of these ordinances on coastal species management has not yet been established. To...
Named storms can cause substantial impacts on the habitat and reproductive output of threatened species, such as marine turtles. To determine the impacts of named storms on marine turtles and inform management, it is necessary to determine the exposure of marine turtle nesting grounds to recent storm activities. To address this, remote sensing info...
Targeted conservation interventions (elements of conservation strategies or plans) are needed to reduce sea turtle vessel strikes in the southern Florida area. These must be determined in a way that include various data sets and perspectives in order to integrate the complex conservation and human dimensions-related issues implicated in boat strike...
The inundation of foreshore and backshore coastal environments caused by wave runup or groundwater intrusion can be extremely detrimental for beach-dwelling organisms. For beach-nesting species, whose eggs require sufficient gas exchange with the surrounding environment for proper embryonic development, inundation for prolonged periods can result i...
Sea turtle nest relocation is a management strategy commonly used to mitigate hatchling mortality, particularly that due to wave wash-over and tidal groundwater inundation. Relocation can alter the incubation environment, so there is concern regarding potential modifications to embryonic development. Several studies have explored the effects of rel...
Sea turtle research has received substantial focus worldwide. However, research on the immature life stages of sea turtles is still relatively limited. The latter is of particular importance, given that a large proportion of sea turtle populations comprises immature individuals. We set out to identify knowledge gaps in immature sea turtle research,...
Sea turtle eggs are at risk of inundation and erosion throughout their incubation. Inundation reduces gas exchange necessary for proper embryonic development with prolonged exposure resulting in mortality. Management actions such as nest relocation may reduce this threat; however, they are often undertaken with incomplete information (e.g., toleran...
Over the last 40 years, the Caribbean has lost half of its live coral cover, mostly in the form of Acropora cervicornis and A. palmata, due to disease, bleaching from rising water temperatures, and other stressors. To help restore these corals to reefs in Florida, the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF) created nearshore nurseries and transplanted o...
