Time: 3:00 - 4:00pm Venue: GC114, Graduate Centre
The state of our current ocean is degrading extremely rapidly. Combined with illegal harvest and intense fisheries, all species are impacted. Here I will present how, together with local NGOs, we use research to lead a large citizen science project involving local communities in Cabo Verde (Africa). With our approach, sea turtles are protected from poaching, education programmes are blooming and research helps defining new conservation priorities. For instance, I will report of our project that estimates genetic diversity, one of the longest genetic survey in the world. I will also explain how deploying satellite devices on turtles we can track them and define areas of protection. Lastly I will explain how turtles have evolved mechanisms to fight against increasing temperature, modifying the sex of new born babies. Overall, this programme demonstrates that science can engage a broad range of people and that together we can improve the state of our planet.