Inundation and erosion from wave exposure, storm surge, and rises in sea level are major threats to marine turtle nests, causing localized mortality of eggs ultimately affecting the productivity of marine turtles at the nesting beach and population level. As sea levels rise and storm frequency and intensity increase, strategies to assess and manage risks of wash-over, inundation, and erosion to nesting beaches will become increasingly urgent. Thus, our lab conducts several projects to describe the embryonic tolerance of marine turtle eggs to wave exposure and groundwater inundation and to determine the risk of sea level rise, storms, wave inundation and erosion to critical marine turtle nesting beaches.
IMPACTS OF SEA-LEVEL RISE, TROPICAL STORMS AND HURRICANES ON MARINE TURTLES
SPECIFIC PROJECTS
- Assessment of inundation threat to sea turtle nests to improve management practices in Alabama
- Reproductive output of loggerhead turtles in Alabama: implications from nest relocation
- Identification of inundation and erosion ‘hot spots’ for sea turtles nesting in the northern Gulf of Mexico which may benefit from conservation interventions
PUBLICATIONS
COLLABORATORS
Joseph Long, University of North Carolina Wilmington
Simona Ceriani, Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute