The Town of Kiawah announced the first in a new series of educational programs called Kiawah Conversations. The inaugural program, entitled “Kiawah’s Loggerhead Turtles: Genetic Tagging of Ancient Mariners”, will take place on Thursday, January 29, 3:00 pm at Kiawah Town Hall. The speaker is Dr. Brian Shamblin from the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia.
This program is free; however, please click here to register.
Dr. Shamblin and his team have been collaborating with sea turtle patrols to genetically tag nesting loggerheads north of Florida since 2006 through nest samples. They have identified over 16,000 nesting females via genetic information from a single egg from each nest. Recently, Dr. Shamblin has developed a novel technique to identify breeding males via sperm trapped in the egg yolk membrane, allowing a non-invasive population count of adult sea turtles via land. He will discuss how the genetic tagging has informed loggerhead turtle recovery and continues to address questions of conservation concern, with a focus on South Carolina and Kiawah Island turtles.
-Submitted by Town of Kiawah Island