Christopher Smyth

Christopher Smyth

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Published on Nov 10, 2016

#TurtleThursday - Sea turtle hatchling

Need to get your mind off of politics? Look no further!  It took almost a full month of field work, but I was finally lucky enough to see a live sea turtle hatchling at my final field site! This is...

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Published on Sep 21, 2016

Catching up on lab notes: Last field day in Apalachicola

I realize I've been terrible at keeping you all up-to-date over the past week or so - my apologies. There have been lots of ups & downs that have kept me busier than I had anticipated! Never th...

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Published on Sep 08, 2016

A sea turtle nest the morning after it hatched!

I was fortunate enough to see a nest the morning after it hatched today! I'm not able to sample it because evaluations cannot be done until 3 days after hatching, at which point I will be in rooker...

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Published on Sep 07, 2016

A few video updates from Apalachicola

The past week (or so) has been quite an adventure, including a dodged hurricane and sampling my first nest! I have some video updates I made a few days ago, which I haven't been able to share throu...

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Published on Aug 31, 2016

Supplies prepped, car packed and Florida-bound!

If you haven't heard much from me over the last week, it's because I've been locked up in the lab (alongside my incredible co-pilot, Courtney Davis) prepping to head to Florida! So let me take a mo...

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Best of luck, Andi!
Oct 28, 2016
Can brown rot and white rot fungi work together to clean up spilled diesel?
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Good question! Once the nests are laid, the grates are placed over them. Ideally, this prevents predation from animals like raccoons and coyotes. It's not 100% successful, but it has decreased the number of nests impacted by predation. The grates also do not prevent the hatchlings from getting out and heading towards the water!
Sep 11, 2016
Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fungal pathogen
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Best of luck, looking forward to reading more about this project!
Sep 07, 2016
Why are some bats naturally immune to White-nose Syndrome.
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Best of luck, looking forward to reading more about this project!
Sep 07, 2016
Why are some bats naturally immune to White-nose Syndrome.
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Good question - it stems all the way back to being interested in marine biology in high school and college. Later in my college career I was introduced to the word of fungi, and I tried to combine both interests when I got to graduate school. I am fortunate to working in a lab that focuses on this in particular fungus, Fusarium. And, since this disease is relatively new (to our knowledge) and kind of overlooked, I've been able to take advantage of some awesome collaboration opportunities with the group in Spain responsible for the original research!
Aug 05, 2016
Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fungal pathogen
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Another important impact loss of sea turtle eggs could have would be on beaches! Sandy beaches are often low in food for other organisms to eat. Dead and decaying sea turtle eggs provide a really important source of nutrients for scavengers as well as plants, such as dune grass. You can find lots more information about sea turtles and their importance at this really excellent website: http://www.conserveturtles.org/seaturtleinformation.php
Aug 05, 2016
Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fungal pathogen
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Hi Justine! Good question! Losing sea turtles & their eggs could have quite a few ecological repercussions. First - sea turtles are some of the only animals that graze on sea grass beds! These large underwater lawns need to be "mowed" every now and again to keep them healthy and growing outward instead of up! Growing outward leads to more square footage of sea grass beds, which are ecosystems that have recently been in decline.
Aug 05, 2016
Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fungal pathogen
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Hi Christina. There definitely is a lot more we need to learn! Thank you for your pledge!
Jul 18, 2016
Sea turtle egg fusariosis: unraveling the biology of an emerging fungal pathogen
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