SUBMITTED SPEAKERS
CHRIS ANDREWS
Chris Andrews is the Senior Curator for SEA LIFE US, which has six – soon to be eight – aquariums across the US, and over 50 worldwide. Chris has spent the last 25 years developing and managing aquariums, zoos and museums in the UK and the US, including the London Zoo, The National Aquarium in Baltimore and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. He is speaking on behalf of his colleague, Craig Thorburn, SEA LIFE Senior Curator for Australia and New Zealand.
WALTER (SEAN) BOYD
Sean is a Research Scientist (PhD) with the Science and Technology Branch of Environment Canada whose mission it is to conduct research that generates data needed to manage and conserve migratory birds. He has always had an interest in migration ecology of birds, and especially lately in my capacity as a member of the NA Sea Duck Joint Venture whose priority it is to describe connectivity patterns between wintering, breeding and molting sites for selected sea duck species (scoters, goldeneye, eiders, etc) and their level of inter-annual site-fidelity. These two kinds of information are needed to understand population structure and delineate NA populations into management units. Sean has been implanting Arctic geese and sea ducks with satellite transmitters since the early 2000s. His major effort in terms of effort and cost has been with Barrow’s goldeneye; with colleagues, they have captured birds at breeding, molting, and wintering sites and tagged >200 goldeneye of all age and sex classes. They have downloaded and analyzed Argos data extensively in all of our satellite tracking projects.
LISA DAVENPORT
Lisa is a tropical biologist specialized in animal behavior and ecology. In the past she has worked on the behavior of the giant otter in oxbow lakes in the Peruvian Amazon. Work with this species led Lisa to become interested in studying the ecological effects of lateral fish migration in the Amazon. However, most of her work tracking animals with Argos technology began in 2008 when she began working to understand movements of intra-tropical migrant birds, particularly those that migrate within the Amazon basin. Her first work in this area focused on the Orinoco Goose (Neochen jubata), a species highly threatened in Peru and elsewhere in its range due to hunting pressure. Currently she expanding her Argos tracking work to include Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger) and Terns (primarily the Large-Billed Tern, Phaetusa simplex). These species nest and raise young on ephemeral riverine beach habitats across the Amazon each dry season, but their wet-season movement patterns are little known.
KRISTIN HART
Kristen Hart completed her PhD in Ecology at Duke University in 2005. She had previously earned a Master’s of Environmental Management (MEM) at Duke in 1999. Kristen has been a Research Ecologist with the USGS since 1998, working in several US National Parks and protected areas (the Everglades, Dry Tortugas National Park, Buck Island Reef National Monument). Her focus is on population ecology of rare, threatened, and endangered species including several species of sea turtles. She also works on invasive species issues in the Everglades, in particular the battle against controlling the Burmese python. Kristen works out of the Davie Field Office of the USGS Southeast Ecological Science Center, and has lead roles in research on alligator, crocodile, terrapin, sea turtle, and Burmese python projects. Kristen has utilized several tools in her research, including genetics, matrix modeling with elasticity analysis, field experiments, capture-recapture, and satellite, radio, GPS, and acoustic telemetry. She has substantial experience with both rare and endangered species and their conservation.
AMY KENNEDY
Dr. Amy Kennedy is a research scientist at the National Marine Laboratory (a division of NOAA Fisheries) in Seattle, WA (USA). She has more than a dozen years of experience with conducting marine mammal surveys and is accomplished in all aspects of data collection and assessment, including satellite telemetry research. She has deployed Argos-monitored implantable satellite tags in humpback, right and gray whales in the Chukchi Sea, Gulf of Maine, Straits of Magellan, Dominican Republic and the French West Indies. Dr. Kennedy’s current research focuses on using telemetry data to describe large whale habitat use in breeding and feeding grounds. These data can ultimately be used to inform policymakers and help make meaningful revisions to existing marine mammal protected area policies worldwide.
GWEN LOCKHART
Gwen Lockhart is currently the GIS Research Specialist for the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center (VAMSC) Research & Conservation Division. Gwen has her BS in Biology and Business Management from Old Dominion University, Post-Baccalaureate certification in GIS from Pennsylvania State University, and a Masters of Natural Resources from Virginia Tech. Over the past 8 years, at the VAMSC, she has developed a multifaceted GIS database including biological monitoring, stranding, and anthropogenic use data. Gwen has coordinated data collection and analysis for marine protected species research including large whale biopsy and photo id surveys, marine mammal and sea turtle aerial surveys, and sea turtle satellite telemetry projects. She currently manages the VAMSC telemetry databases, conducts analysis using telemetry and other spatial data, and is the point of contact for VAMSC data dissemination.
BERND MEYBURG
Bernd Meyburg has concerned himself with birds of prey and other bird species since 1962. Since 1990 he has employed telemetry in his studies, and from 1992 satellite telemetry (ST). He has organised symposia on ST at the International Ornithological Congress (IOC) in Durban, South Africa and at the European Ornithologists' Union (EOU) Conference in Zurich, Switzerland. To date he has fitted transmitters to several hundred birds of prey of 15 different species. The results of these studies, of which only a small number have been evaluated to date, have been published in Condor, Ibis, British Birds, Journal of Ornithology, Ostrich and other scientific periodicals.
MEENAKSHI (MINI) NAGENDRAN
Meenakshi (Mini) Nagendran is a wildlife biologist and has been with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since March 2005. Mini received her BSc from India, MS from South Dakota State University in Wildlife Science, PhD from North Dakota State University in Zoology, carried out post-doctoral research at the University of Tokyo, and finally received her DVM from UC-Davis. Dr. Nagendran has conducted field work in Siberia, Kazakhstan, Japan, the Russian Far-east, India, the U.S.A., and has collaborated for many years with colleagues from Japan, Russia, India, U.S.A., and Bulgaria on satellite tracking several species of wild and endangered cranes, storks, and waterfowl, documenting their migration routes for the first time. She hopes that powerful satellite tracking tools, while unravelling amazing migration mysteries, can also be used to conserve Earth’s magnificent yet endangered biodiversity.
JAMES (JIM) REID
Jim Reid is a Wildlife Biologist with the U. S Geological Survey. Since 1983, he has been part of the Sirenia Project, a research team focused on long-term, detailed studies on the life history, population dynamics, and ecology of manatees and dugongs. He helped develop and coordinates the application of GPS, Argos and VHF tracking systems on manatees to understand migratory movements and specific habitat use patterns. Assessment of marine habitats known to be essential for manatees is accomplished through analysis of tracking data and by mapping and characterizing nearshore habitats including seagrass beds. Jim has been a principal investigator in manatee movement and habitat use studies in Everglades National Park, Atlantic coast of southeastern US, northern Gulf of Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. International research efforts include collaborations with manatee researchers in other countries (Brazil, Bahamas, and Mexico) on manatee behavior, distribution, life history, and research techniques.
JOHN (DAVE) BITTNER
Dave Bittner has been the Director of the Wildlife Research Institute (WRI) since 1996. WRI is a non-profit, wildlife conservation org, based in San Diego, California. Over the past 17 years Dave has lead a team of biologists studying the Golden Eagle. Since 1998 Dave has been studying breeding populations of Golden Eagles in Southern California, Nevada, Montana, and Baja Mexico. WRI has documented amazing natal movements of these eagles over thousands of miles. In addition Dave has been studying a major migratory Flyway located in Montana where thousands of Golden Eagles move through from nesting in Alaska and Northern Canada to wintering areas in the south. Dave started studying wildlife professionally in 1964 with the US Fish and Wildlife Service and has been a curator of Wildlife at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. In addition he taught Wildlife Management at two colleges and pre -Veterinary medicine at The Ohio State University. Dave also has a practical business background and was a National Sales Manager for North America at two CCTV electronics companies from 1982-1996. Dave is also an avid wildlife photographer.
EDUARDO CUEVAS
Eduard has worked with sea turtle conservation and research since 1998 in the Yucatan peninsula, MX. Most of his professional experience is based on sea turtle ecology and reproduction. Since 2001 he had his first experience working with Argos satellite telemetry, and in 2005 they started go deeper in sea turtle spatial ecology analyses of post-nesting females until nowadays. They are completing animal and spatial ecology analyses to generate knowledge for directing sea turtle conservation, risk assessments and marine protected areas design. Over the next five years they will be working even harder on sea turtle Argos satellite tracking in the Gulf of Mexico.
CHARLES (CHIP) DEUTSCH
Charles (Chip) Deutsch is an associate research scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. He has been actively engaged in applied research on the behavior, ecology, and population biology of the endangered Florida manatee since 1994, when he joined the U.S. Geological Survey’s Sirenia Project as a postdoc. Since 2002 Chip has led FWC’s research on manatee behavioral ecology, focused on conservation problems of key management importance. This research has regularly employed Argos-linked satellite telemetry to study manatee movements, migratory behavior, site fidelity, habitat use, and response to human factors, including watercraft and power plant operations.Chip has also worked on various population studies of the Florida manatee, including the IUCN’s Red List Assessment. Prior to his work on manatees, Chip conducted research on a variety of other marine mammals, including the northern elephant seal which he studied for his doctorate in Biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz. He earned his B.S. degree in Natural Resources from Cornell University.
DAVID JOHNSON
David has Vocational-Technical degrees in Natural Resource Technology and Civil Engineering; a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Archaeology, and a Master of Science in Wildlife Science. He has worked in wildlife, fisheries, and forestry positions for 38 years in Minnesota, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, Virginia, and Idaho. David grew up a farmboy in southern Minnesota. When 11 yrs old and camping along the river bottom, an Eastern Screech Owl landed on his canvas pup tent and called for 20 minutes - its shadow vibrating in the moonlight with each call. David began formal research and conservation work on owls in 1976. He leads the field work for the University of Idaho’s Burrowing Owl Migration in Western North America project. Separately, since 2002, he has led the Global Owl Project - a consortium of 450 scientists, land managers, university students, and volunteers working on the science, culture and conservation of owls in 65 countries. David has designed a ‘lift kit’ for backpack-mounted solar-powered satellite transmitters, to raise the PTT just enough so that the feathers from the neck and back of the owls do not cover the solar panel array. The aerodynamic shape of the lift kit also allows the birds to groom their feathers alongside the PTT, rather than over it.
CHI HIN (TIM) LAM
Chi Hin Lam, or more commonly referred to as Tim, has extensive experience in analyzing electronic tag data from many large pelagics species from tunas, billfishes to sharks in both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Originally from Hong Kong, he has obtained his doctoral from University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA and currently worked in the Large Pelagics Research Center of University of Massachusetts in Gloucester, MA. He has worked extensively in geo-positioning archival tags using light and sea surface temperature, and is committed to making all tools open source and accessible to the wider community for many years. He is a leading researcher in developing data management applications and is committed to maintaining and safeguarding the long-term integrity of electronic tag data as his mission and unique contribution to science.
REMY LOPEZ
Dr. Rémy Lopez received the M.S. degree in mathematical and modeling engineering (2009) and the Ph.D. degree in automatics (2013) from the National Institute for Applied Science (Toulouse, France). Since 2009, he has been with the Space Systems Department of Collecte Localisation Satellites (Ramonville-Saint-Agne, France). His research interests include target tracking and statistical signal processing applied to Doppler and underwater localizations. Dr. Rémy Lopez was in charge of developing new localization algorithms for Argos and he is now involved in different projects or studies in the field of space systems.
KEN MEYER
Ken Meyer obtained his B.S. in Zoology from the University of Maine, Orono, in 1978, and his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1987. From 1987 to 1997, he served as a post-doctoral and then research associate in the University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation and was employed as a research biologist with the National Park Service in Big Cypress National Preserve. In 1997, Ken co-founded and now directs the nonprofit Avian Research and Conservation Institute. ARCI conducts problem-solving research on rare and imperiled birds that stimulates management action and enhances public appreciation for conservation planning. This research, in the southeastern US, Caribbean, and Latin America, has addressed questions about breeding biology, population ecology, demography, migration, toxicology, and the effects of habitat loss. Since 1996, ARCI has used satellite tracking to sharpen its research focus on 11 species of birds for which critical management-related data were lacking – data that could not be acquired by any other means. Study species have included Swallow-tailed Kites, Short-tailed Hawks, Snail Kites, Crested Caracaras, Northern Harriers, White-crowned Pigeons, Great Egrets, Jabiru Storks, Great White Herons, Reddish Egrets, and Magnificent Frigatebirds. Besides producing vital information on the conservation ecology of birds, these projects have helped train students, land managers, and other biologists in the US and abroad. Since 1998, Dr. Meyer has served as an adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation. Partners in Flight recognized Ken’s accomplishments with their award for Exceptional Contributions in Bird Conservation in 1999 and 2014.
KEVIN WENG
Kevin is a fish biologist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. He is interested in how the world’s oceans will respond to major perturbations of the anthropocene – enormous removals of fish biomass, coupled with warming, stratification, deoxygenation and acidification – and how we should be managing ocean resources. High marine connectivity, which dominates the early life history of myriad taxa, belies the spatial ecology of many species during adult phases – the phases in which humans are likely to target them. In order to supply gametes, marine organisms must have viable adult populations, and we must understand their habitat requirements, and their scales in space and time.