Using molecular and stable isotope approaches to investigate sea turtle foraging ecology in the Western Indian Ocean

Sophia Coveney

Swansea University, Wales, UK

 

In March 2024, I attended the 42nd International Sea Turtle Symposium (ISTS) in Pattaya, Thailand. The ISTS meetings are a busy week of workshops, talks and socialising amidst the largest aggregation of sea turtle researchers, practitioners and industry partners.

Before the conference starts, ISTS hosts workshops and regional meetings in which attendees can develop their skills and communicate with others working on sea turtles in their region. This year, there was a day of workshops and a day of regional meetings. I chose to attend the “Sea Turtle Rehabilitation and Medicine” workshop. As well as having an interest in sea turtle veterinary science, having been part of a team rehabilitating a very injured sea turtle in the past, I hoped to do some networking and gain some insights on the possibility of controlled feeding studies for my PhD. The workshop was fascinating, and its theme was an incredibly important one. The presentations focussed on case studies that had gone wrong, aiming to provide a space where veterinary practitioners could advise on what might have caused an undersirable outcome and what everyone could learn from a particular case. Across science, people are rarely given a platform to speak about what has gone wrong, despite the fact that this can really help encourage progress, so it was refreshing to see a workshop providing this outlook.

Once the conference began properly, it was a nonstop itinerary of talks, activities and social events. There was a huge variety of oral presentations and posters, covering everything from community and cultural-based sea turtle research to toxicology. On the second day of talks, I gave my presentation on using dietary DNA metabarcoding in marine vertebrates. As I am at the start of my PhD, I presented the results of my literature review, highlighting the limited number of sea turtle studies and discussing how the technique could help the field move forward. I was happy to have an engaged audience who asked some important questions and expressed interest afterwards.


ISTS facilitated a welcoming environment for networking and meeting people who you may have previously only met on a screen or even as a name in a journal. A student mixer and welcome social on the first evening allowed everyone to get to know each other, silent and live auctions throughout the week enabled the committee to raise money for next year’s student travel grants, and a banquet dinner on the last evening allowed everyone to celebrate a successful week. In particular, the conference provided an inclusive space for students with a student committee working hard to put on events like the student mixer and a ‘speed-chatting with experts’ session. Student travel grants enabled successful applicants to stay in the conference hotel free of charge (and enjoy a huge buffet breakfast every morning). I was immensely grateful to receive a grant this year.

Although the conference was very busy, we still found a few spare hours to explore Thailand. Most evenings we headed to the local street food markets for tea. Outside of the conference, I took advantage of being in an area with such a beautiful marine environment and went on some long overdue scuba dives, completing my Advanced Open Water qualification. I saw some of the amazing marine life Thailand has to offer (including, of course, a green turtle!).
 
Profile
Sophia is a marine molecular ecologist studying for her PhD at Swansea University in association with Marine.Science. Her work uses DNA metabarcoding, microbiome characterisation and stable isotope analysis to investigate sea turtle diet in the Western Indian Ocean. She is hoping to contribute to optimising methodology, helping to guide further molecular study of sea turtle foraging ecology.
X: @Sophia_Coveney
Instagram: @thalassophia_science
Webpages: https://www.marine.science/scientist/coveney-sophia/