Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Florida
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

While some sea turtle populations appear to be in recovery due to protections enacted decades ago, loss of suitable nesting habitat, driven by climatic factors and anthropogenic responses to those factors, poses an increasing threat to the sustainability of established and newly founded nesting populations. Data on the responses of nesting sea turtles to perturbations and change in the onshore and nearshore coastal habitat is lacking, and this research seeks to fill those data gaps with relevant, actionable information. The study is a collaborative effort that include the University of Florida (Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, the Doris Duke Conservation Scholars Program,The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Biosciences, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research), the U.S. Geological Survey, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Estuarine Research Reserve. Biological and physical beach data collected in monitoring efforts to date have contributed to the establishment of the first conservation easement for sea turtles in the United States.