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Predicting Fisheries Collapse

By: Chris Schenker, SRC Intern Hundreds of millions of people around the world depend on wild harvests from the ocean as both a livelihood and source of protein (Srinivasan et al., 2010). Ensuring the long term sustainability of fisheries is therefore a matter of utmost importance for global resource security. However, according to a 2016 […]

Global Warming is Creating an All-Female Sea Turtle Population

By: Konnor Payne, SRC Intern Unbeknownst to the majority of people, sea turtles have an attribute, like many reptiles, in which the sex of the animal is determined by temperature. This characteristic is called “temperature-dependent sex determination”, which means the sex, of a sea turtle, is determined during the second trimester of incubation. Eggs at […]

The Development Plans of Lighthouse Point, The Bahamas

By: Peter Aronson, SRC Intern Imagine a beach with soft, white sand and pristine, turquoise waters spotted with deep royal blue from the coral patches that lay below.  Scenic rocky cliffs tower over one end of the beach while lush coppice lays 100 feet from the shoreline that young lemon sharks swim along.  This area is […]

Adaptation of Sirenians: Changing Behavior to Allow for Better Thermoregulation

By Sam Aronwald, SRC intern Through scientific investigation of dugongs in Australia, there is evidence of behavioral thermoregulation in the Sirenia order. A study on two Amazonian manatees (Trichechus inunguis) determined that the average body temperature of all four species that fall under the Sirenia order is regulated between 35.6*C and 36.1 *C (Gallivan, 1983). […]

Ups and Downs of habitat use: Horizontal and vertical movement behaviour of flatback turtles and spatial overlap with industrial development

By Sydney Steel, SRC intern The most effective species conservation strategies extend beyond protection of key breeding grounds and nesting sites, and instead considers geographic range over the species’ entire life cycle. Many conservation efforts for endangered species are focused on these key sites due to the locations’ prospect of containing a condensed amount of […]

2018 SRC Accomplishments

UM SRC had a productive 2018. Here are some of the highlights we are proud to share with you. We published seven research papers in scientific journals. These papers ranged in scientific topics from studying the effects of shark removals on fish communities to evaluating the effects of climate variability on great white shark hunting. […]