The number of loggerhead sea turtles in the Southeastern USA has declined dramatically from human-related activities, with the lowest number of nests in 2004. Since then, nest numbers from this threatened species have increased but are still below historic levels.

For the last 12 years, the team at the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources has been devoted to a project that can make significant strides in sea turtle population recovery. Researchers developed a method to identify individual mother loggerhead turtles from a nest sample. Since 2010, a sample has been collected from every known loggerhead nest in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Over 110,000 nests have been assigned to 13,000 individual nesting females. This vast record of nesting histories allows researchers to develop population models that can assess the effects of human activity and inform decisions on future management strategies.

An extensive network of dedicated volunteers and staff collects the egg samples, which are then processed at the University of Georgia lab. Sample processing was previously grant funded, but now new funding sources are critical to the continuation of the project. It costs approximately $30 to analyze each sample.

This project is one of the largest of its kind in the world and offers unique insight that can help create solutions to safeguard the survival of the species. You can be a part of the solution through a gift to support this valuable research. Together, we can make a difference in the future of loggerhead sea turtles.

Learn more about the project:

https://www.facebook.com/NRU.loggerheads
http://www.seaturtle.org/nestdb/genetics