Steven Kimble

Turtles are among the most threatened vertebrates on the planet. With this in mind, my students and I use molecular tools such as DNA sequencing to learn things about turtles that can't be studied in other ways. For example: how many males have fathered eggs in a clutch? How far do young turtles disperse away from home? Which turtles in a population have a particular pathogen? How many turtles in a population are actually breeding? What microbes are present in a turtle's guts and what do they do in there? With the answers to these questions, population managers (such as park rangers) can make life safer for this group of vulnerable group of creatures.

May 2014