It's that time again
It's been a long off season, but I'm gearing up for another field season! Here's what has happened since last time:
While the sea turtles are out doing their own thing, I had to take a break from marine life and explore some other fun creatures in the herpetology course I took.
Last year's season was cut short by Hurricane Irma when she hit Ossabaw Island September 10-11, 2017. We lost all of the sea turtle nests that were still left incubating on the beaches and all of our dunes were wiped away. We lost about 50 nests on Ossabaw (11 of which were included in my research sample). The loss of those nests meant the loss of data but also the loss of data loggers--neither of which come cheap. Thanks to the generous donation of Mr. Jim Ellis of California, I've been able to replace all of the loggers that I lost. I have received funding from individual donors via Experiment.com. Thank you to everyone who took an interest in this research. I am very excited to announce that I've accepted funding from the National Geographic Society to finish work on this project. Look out, Nat Geo Explorers, I'm joining the ranks!
This year's field season begins officially on May 15th. I'll be moving out to start the field season on May 3rd, so gear up for more pictures and crazy stories that document all of the shenanigans that this season will surely bring. With the help of all funding, I'm now able to more than double my sample size and move this project on to see some (hopefully) great results. Soon we'll be able to see if things like vegetation and dune orientation have some effect on moisture and temperature which affect hatch success.
The turtles are coming. Stay posted, friends, and say "no" to plastic straws and balloons.
