Project properties

Title Developing resilience indicators based using animal bourne video on green turtle behaviour, sharks and seagrass condition and acoustic measurements
Group Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management Group
Project type thesis
Credits 24-36
Supervisor(s) Marjolijn Christianen; Celine van Bijsterveldt
Examiner(s) Marjolijn Christianen
Contact info Mischa Streekstra: marine.aew@wur.nl
Begin date 2024/09/01
End date 2026/09/01
Description Tropical seagrass meadows are essential ecosystems providing a variety of services, including food and a home for green turtles. Research has suggested that changes in food availability, decline of top predators like tiger sharks, and changes in green turtle abundance may lead to differences in green turtle behaviour and habitat use. Understanding how megafauna shape ecosystems through interactions with their environment is important but has been largely overlooked, hampering successful management and conservation. Therefore, this research will study green turtle behaviour and seagrass condition to determine whether green turtle behaviour can be linked to seagrass ecosystem condition and how the presence of tiger sharks may influence these dynamics.
In this project, you will investigate the link between animal behavior and resilience to develop resilience indicators. you will work with animal-borne video data, drone data, BRUV data that has not been analysed before. You have the freedom to specify your research question fitting within this larger research question.
Used skills Literature review; data analysis/statistics; modelling
Requirements knowledge on ecology and resilience and coastal systems