Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research

Gator Nation Stand Up & Holler Giving Day All for the Gators 2.19.26

Today is UF Giving Day, and donations to the ACCSTR fund will directly support sea turtle research, education, and conservation. Now's your moment to give to what you love! #AllForTheGators

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Jazmyn stands at a computer podium. The slide behind her reads: Long-term patterns of sea turtle nest success in relation to beach nourishment.

Congratulations to ACCSTR graduate student Jazmyn Broxton for successfully defending and presenting her master’s thesis on sea turtle nest success after beach nourishment.

New pub: This is a first look at whether sea turtles undergo age-related declines in the number of eggs they lay. Surprisingly, sea turtles can maintain their high reproductive output well into old age. However, the chances of dying do not follow a similar trend, with mortality increasing with age.

These loggerhead tracks are now available on OCEARCH. Check out where they have gone!

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Happy World Sea Turtle Day from the ACCSTR! This day is the birthday of the late Archie Carr.

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A loggerhead turtle with a transmitter on her carapace under red light.

A loggerhead is held for antifouling paint drying time before release with a satellite transmitter.

An loggerhead crawls back to the ocean at dawn with a satellite transmitter.

Ariadna Arnau successfully deployed three satellite transmitters on loggerheads at Wassaw Island, Georgia last week. Stay tuned for updates. We are particularly interested in their internesting habitat use and indicators of feeding status.

Hannah Vander Zanden, Ariadna Arnau, Aileen Lavelle, and Mariela Pajuelo stand behind two tables with sea turtle skulls, jellyfish/plastic bags in jars, tortoise and turtle shells, make-your-own-turtle art activity, and a voting station to vote for names of turtles that will receive satellite transmitters. Photo courtesy of M Pajuelo.

ACCSTR members participated in an elementary school STEAM night and had a great time interacting with children and their families yesterday. Turtle power!

I taught Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation for the first time this spring. In such challenging times, hearing the thoughtful insights of my students was a bright spot every week.

Happy #EarthDay from the ACCSTR!

Costanza Manes delivers her PhD seminar, and the screen beside her shows a slide of acknowledgments.

Congratulations to ACCSTR PhD student Costanza Manes on finishing her dissertation and delivering an excellent exit seminar on green turtles and Fibropapillomatosis.

Nominator Mustapha Aksissou speaks as President Andrews Agyekumhene stands next to Manjula Tiwari.

Andrews Agyekumhene presents the Presidential Award to Manjula Tiwari.

Congratulations to Manjula Tiwari, ACCSTR alum, for receiving two awards last night: ISTS Champion in Conservation Award and the Presidential Award!

#ISTS43

Six of eight awardees stand on the stage with Andrews Agyekumhene and Andrea Phillip presenting the awards. The other two were not able to attend the awards ceremony.

Congrats to the #ISTS43 student award winners!

A Podium Is the Same Thing as a Lectern We'd say it from a podium if we had to

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View of the Mensvic Hotel and pool in the rain.

Posters stretch down temporary walls of the poster session.

An absolute downpour before the poster session. #ISTS43

Adding the #ISTS43 tag.

Renato Saragoça Bruno stands at the podium with his title slide in the background.

ACCSTR student Renato Saragoça Bruno found that green turtle diet in Nicaragua has not changed much since the last assessment in the 1980s. And curiously, nesting females in Tortuguero, Costa Rica consume terrestrial vegetation during the nesting season.

Mariela Pajuelo stands at the podium with a slide of different sea turtle species and their trophic strategies.

Mariela Pajuelo presented on the trophic strategies of four seas turtle species in Peru using stable isotope analysis. #ISTS43

Continued with a brief video.

A long room is filled with occupied chairs watching a woman narrate and sing against the backdrop of a leatherback on the screen.

Audience views a woman singing, another dancing, against the backdrop of dancers on screen.

The opening ceremony at #ISTS43!

Karen Bjorndal retires after over 50 years at UF After more than 50 years at UF, Director of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research Karen Bjorndal has retired.

Dr. Karen Bjorndal was recently featured in a piece from the UF College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Communications Support.

Let's congratulate Dr. Bjorndal on her retirement, after a more than 50-year career at the University of Florida!

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Gator Nation Stand Up & Holler Giving Day It's Time To Stand Up & Holler 2-20-25 Givingday.ufl.edu

Today is UF Giving Day! That means it is time to stand up and holler in support of the ACCSTR. We thank all of our generous donors so far!

givingday.ufl.edu/campaigns/ar...

Dr. Bjorndal spent 51 years at UF and became the first director of the ACCSTR in 1986. Over that period she mentored 3 postdocs, chaired or co-chaired 26 PhD and 14 MS committees, and served on 48 others.

Ray Carthy, Karen Bjorndal, Blair Witherington

Dr. Karen Bjorndal was presented with her #SERSTM2025 Lifetime Achievement Award by Ray Carthy and Blair Witherington in Gainesville this weekend at a gathering to honor her retirement from the University of Florida last month.

Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research - Gator Nation Giving Day

Get ready for UF's Giving Day February 20, 2025. Support the ACCSTR in advancing research, education, and conservation efforts through your gift!

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Hannah Vander Zanden holds Karen Bjorndal’s Award Plaque.

Congratulations to Dr. Karen Bjorndal on receiving the Southeast Regional Sea Turtle Network Lifetime Achievement Award!

Karen recently retired, and Hannah Vander Zanden accepted the award on Karen’s behalf at the #SERSTM2025 closing social.

Renato received the Cynthia A. Melnick Memorial Fund and Frank Marturo Excellence Fund Awards for a total of $4,500.

Ashley received the Carrie Lynn Yoder Memorial Scholarship, Cynthia A. Melnick Memorial Fund, and Frank Marturo Excellence Fund Awards for a total of $5,500.

Congratulations to ACCSTR graduate students Ashley Meade Kusel and Renato Saragoça Bruno for their research grants from the UF Department of Biology!

Costanza Manes points to her title slide: Fibropapillomatosis: the virus and the environment.

ACCSTR student Costanza Manes’ work demonstrated evidence of both virus and environmental factors contributing to fibropapillomatosis in sea turtles. #SERSTM25

A stage with eight sea turtle biologists and one moderator at the start of the panel discussion.

A great start to day 2 of #SERSTM25 with a panel of voices from the beach.