Fitra Nughra

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Project Title: Population Dynamic of Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758) in Cape Verde

Summary: 

Climate change impacts on wildlife populations, behaviour and survivorship. Specifically in the ocean, temperature rise is detected from the surface to deeper waters. Ectotherms are particularly at risks because of their strong dependence to temperature and marine turtles are such species that have become good model systems. The nesting aggregation of Loggerhead turtles found in Cabo Verde is particularly interesting since this population has grown approximately 70 times in the last decade. However, along with this increasing trend, unfortunately, the infection of marine leech, a parasite that could be a mechanical vector for fibropapillomatosis disease, on turles has risen as well.

In this project, I will question whether environmental changes captured from remote sensing in the form of sea surface temperature, air temperature and chlorophyll-a correlate with the increasing trend of female nesters and parasites. I will address these questions by exploring whether there are more new turtles nesting or whether turtles produce more nest over their lifetime or there are more parasite frequency or more turtles being infected.

Supervisor:

• Prof Christophe Eizaguirre

Research