Studying sea turtles from the sky | Elizabeth Bevan | TEDxBirmingham

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In this engaging talk, marine biology grad student Elizabeth Bevan shares about how she incorporates new drone technology into her study of sea turtles. She shares the benefits this new perspective provides to her research, as well as a challenge to us to approach our own world with new viewpoints.

Elizabeth Bevan is a turtle wrangler, award -winning marine biologist, and a graduate student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Bevan spent four years as a biologist for the private ecological consulting company, Ecological Associates Incorporated (EAI). In 2010, Bevan was one of EAI’s biologists sent to enhance the protection of sea turtle nests throughout the Gulf Coast in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Bevan’s current research has generated six publications in a variety of ecological journals regarding the biology and conservation of sea turtles. Her research focuses on the endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle in the Gulf of Mexico, serving as a model for evaluating how climate change is affecting reproduction and sex ratios in a thermally sensitive endangered species. Bevan’s work is advancing the field by using cutting-edge technology to recover an endangered species, as well as exploring the Kemp’s ridley as an indicator species for the health of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.