Elizabeth Whitman

Elizabeth Whitman is interested in the foraging ecology and in-water behavior of marine turtles. She is studying the top-down and bottom-up factors that may affect green turtle (Chelonia mydas) distributions through surveys of habitat, food availability, and predators using unmanned aerial videos (UAVs), in-water assessments and baited remote underwater video surveys (BRUVs).

Research

• Conducting the first quantitative assessment of shark abundance and distribution in green turtle foraging habitats in Abaco, Bahamas.
• Explicitly testing whether Caribbean green turtle foraging distributions reflect a tradeoff between risk and energy intake or if foraging considerations alone determine spatial variation in turtle densities.
• Investigating the effects of grazing on factors such as seagrass community composition, canopy height, shoot density, nutrient content and productivity.
• Elucidating the role of grazers – particularly green turtles – on in the spread of the invasive seagrass species Halophile stipulacea.
• Publications

Education

• Ph.D. Florida International University, USA
• M.S. Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, USA
• B.A. Communications, Purdue University, Indiana, USA

Twitter @BethWhitmanFIU