Current Research Locations
Ascension Island (Central Atlantic)
Graeme Hays first worked on Ascension Island in 1991 and since 1996 members of the Swansea team have visited the island every year. In 1996 the first deployments of satellite transmitters were made (Graeme Hays in collaboration with Professor Floriano Papi and Dr Paolo Luschi) to track female turtles returned to Brazil at the end of the nesting season. Since 1996 we have continued to examine the navigational performance and diving behaviour of turtles using state-or-the-art transmitters and data-loggers. In addition ongoing work is examining the thermal environment of nests and the implications of temperature dependent sex determination and long term trends in nesting numbers.
Greece (Mediterranean Sea)
In collaboration with Gail Schofield and the National Marine Park of Zakynthos we are using state-of-the-art GPS loggers, some linked to the Argos satellite system, to establish the microscale patterns of habitat utilisation.
Italy (Mediterranean Sea)
In collaboration with Dr Flegra Bentivegna and Dr Sandra Hochscheid we are investigating the movements, diving and foraging ecology of loggerhead turtles.
West Indies (Caribbean Sea)
Since 2002, we have been working at various sites in the Caribbean (Grenada, Dominica) to assess the movements and diving behaviour of leatherback turtles. A variety of data-loggers and transmitters have been attached to turtles, some designed to work for a few weeks during the nesting season, but others working for over 1 year as females forage in the North Atlantic between nesting seasons.
Northern Europe (NE Atlantic / Irish Sea)
Leatherback turtles forage in the seas of Northern Europe especially in the late summer. In collaboration with Dr Tom Doyle (University College Cork) we are assessing the numbers of turtles in the Irish Sea and the temporal patterns of abundance of their prey, various species of jellyfish. A combination of aerial surveys, ships surveys and beach surveys have been used to assess number of turtles and their prey while satellite borne sensors are used to examine the patterns of abundance in relation to oceanographic features.
Northern Australia
In collaboration with Dr Corey Bradshaw (Charles Darwin University) we are using satellite transmitters to document the movements and behaviour of a range of species that nest in northern Australia.
Nova Scotia (Canada)
In collaboration with Dr Mike James (Dalhousie University) we are using satellite relay data loggers to examine the patterns of movement, diving and thermal ecology of leatherback turtles foraging at high latitude.
The images below shows turtles in the early 20th century being collected at Ascension Island for human consumption. Turtles have been fully protected at Ascension Island for several decades and the population is very healthy with many thousands of nests being laid each year.
Page last updated: 7 November 2007