Ep. 45 Tracking Turtles Through the Lens of Sargassum with Dr. Kate Mansfield

Dr. Kate Mansfield is a marine scientist, a sea turtle biologist, and an associate professor at the University of Central Florida. Her research focuses on sea turtle biology, ecology, behavior, management, and conservation. Using various census and telemetry methods, Dr. Mansfield’s research interests include sea turtle and other marine vertebrate movements, migration, and habitat utilization.

We spoke to Kate this week about how sargassum impacts sea turtles on Atlantic coastlines throughout their life cycles, from hatching, to feeding on floating sargasm colonies, to nesting.

0:35 - Intro

1:58 - What does sargassum mean to Kate?

3:52 - What are turtle lost years? How does sargassum impact them?

8:54 - Tagging and tracking juvenile turtles

14:25 - How do turtles interact with sargassum in the water?

18:20 - What threats does sargassum pose for sea turtles?

23:11 - How long does it take for sea turtles to mature?

26:08 - What does sargassum do to turtle nests?

28:40 - Debrief

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