#Scifund Round 3 is underway and each day I will highlight a new proposal from the Challenge to give you a more in-depth understanding of each participant and their research.

Today I present Sam Greene. Her research uses high technology infrared cameras to look at how the environment affects leatherback sea turtle nesting.

My name is Samantha Greene I am a eco-geomorphologist and Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  This means I study the landscape, what forms it, and how ecology and landscape interact.  I am originally from the Washington, DC area, but have been going to school in Madison, WI for 8 years.  After Madison and my doctoral degree, I hope to transition to a job in the restoration of water-related ecosystems (i.e., rivers, lakes, ocean coasts).

I was talking to a graduate student, Peter Dudley, who uses computer models to study leatherback physiology.  We were discussing why this research will help predict the effects climate change will have on leatherbacks in the ocean.  I then did a little independent research on leatherbacks and saw that species invasion and coastal geomoprhology (both things that I research in the context of rivers) influence leatherback physiology and capability to dig nests when ashore.  It seemed perfect to combine my expertise on vegetation and geomorphology with his expertise on leatherback physiology to fill out the climate change story.  Peter is already studying how climate change will alter the ocean populations, this research will look at nesting populations, and thus, the ability of leatherbacks to reproduce under future climates.

Leatherback sea turtles are the oldest animal on earth, swimming in the seas for more than 150 million years.  They are also extremely large, weighing up to one ton.  Ecologically, their decline is likely causing an increase in jellyfish populations and jellyfish are causing havoc along our shallow ocean margins.  Scientifically, there are few studies that look at the interaction between animals and geomorphology, studies that look at ocean animals and geomorphology are even fewer.  This will bring a new understanding of feedback between the physical  and biological environment.

I thought the public would love to be part of a project saving an endangered marine turtle that used to swim the seas with dinosaurs!  I also wanted to learn how to communicate my science with the public.  I believe their participation can greatly improve the quality and quantity of scientific research.

My most difficult and favorite are the same: the movie!  Learning to make a movie was much harder than I suspected, but I had a ball putting it together!

I am in the geography department and Peter Dudley is in the Zoology Department.  I think this cross-campus and interdisciplinary research is great for harnessing all the physical and intellectual resources we have in academic research!

And to save you time from scrolling up, you can read about her project and contribute here. Thanks Sam for sharing your science!