Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows
The ACCSTR has a very active graduate student program with students from a number of departments at the University of Florida. The involvement of graduate students in our research ensures that, while answering critical questions in sea turtle biology, we are also educating future sea turtle biologists and conservationists.
Examples of the type of research conducted by ACCSTR graduate students can be seen in the following link: Theses and Dissertations of the ACCSTR
Graduate Students
Melania López-Castro
Email: mlopezcast@ufl.edu
Department: Biology
Major Professor: Karen A. Bjorndal
Melania is studying green turtles in the Atlantic. Her goal is to find the oceanic foraging grounds where young green turtles spend their “lost years” using trace elements and stable isotopes.
Jame McCray
Email: jame.mccray@gmail.com
Department: Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
Major Professor: Ray Carthy
Jame’s research focuses on the efficacy of wildlife legislation and management in Florida. She is examining sea turtle protection laws as a test case for creating effective policy through adaptive management and structured decision making.
Mariela Pajuelo
Email: mpajuelo@ufl.edu
Department: Biology
Major Professor: Karen A. Bjorndal
Mariela is studying the foraging ecology of loggerhead turtle populations in the Atlantic. Using a combination of stable isotope analysis and satellite telemetry, she aims to identify the foraging areas of adult and juvenile loggerhead turtles. She is also interested in understanding how environmental changes can affect sea turtle populations.
Joe Pfaller
Email: jpfaller@ufl.edu
Department: Biology
Major Professor: Karen A. Bjorndal
Joe is interested in the ecology and evolution of marine reptiles and their epibiotic symbionts. Joe’s dissertation research focuses on the rafting crabs of the genus Planes, which often live associated with oceanic-stage sea turtles. His goals are to understand the evolution of these crabs, and to investigate the role that sea turtles play in their global distribution and mating behavior. Joe is also the Research Director of the Caretta Research Project, a long-term project on the nesting population of loggerhead turtles on Wassaw Island, Georgia, USA.
Rogério Ferreira
Email: coriacea@gmail.com
Faculty of Science and Technology
University of Algarve, Portugal
Rogerio’s research is centered at Principe Island, a recent UNESCO Biodiversity Reserve in West Africa. By using several methodologies (nesting and in-water census, telemetry and isotopic and genetic analyses), in collaboration with other researchers, he aims to gain understanding on the distribution and abundance of the sea turtle populations in this region, including their connectivity with other foraging and breeding areas. As an overall goal, Rogerio hopes to contribute to the conservation of sea turtles in the region.
Luciano Soares e Soares
Email: lsoares@ufl.edu
Department: Biology
Major Professor: Karen A. Bjorndal
Luciano’s research focuses on the biology of loggerhead / hawksbill hybrids in Brazil, in particular their foraging ecology, reproductive output, and migratory patterns. His goal is to understand the consequences of hybridization on sea turtle populations.
Marco Santos
Email: msantos@uac.pt
University of the Azores, Portugal
Marco is studying the movements and distribution patterns of oceanic juvenile loggerheads in the waters around the Azores. Marco is using satellite telemetry and remote sensing technologies.
Patricia M. Zárate
Email: pzarate@ufl.edu
Department: Biology
Major Professor: Karen A. Bjorndal
Patricia’s research focuses on the foraging ecology and reproductive biology of green turtles in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Her studies also involve estimation of population trends and connectivity of green turtle populations within the Galapagos archipelago and throughout the Pacific Ocean.
ACCSTR Postdoctoral Fellow
Hannah Vander Zanden
Email: hvz@ufl.edu
Department: Biology
Postdoc supervisor: Karen A. Bjorndal
Hannah is studying the nutritional ecology green and loggerhead sea turtles. She uses stable isotope analysis to investigate diet patterns through time to examine consistency and specialization of turtles at various life stages. She is also interested in the role sea turtles play in the terrestrial ecosystem.