February 2023
Alison "Eley" Meeth
PhD Student
Zoology
February's member spotlight goes to Alison Meeth (but she goes by Eley). Eley is a 2nd year Ph.D student in Zoology under Dr. Shaya Honarvar. 

Her research is focused on hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) residing in the Hawaiian Islands, which constitute one of the smallest, distinct sea turtle populations on the planet, and her research focuses on their foraging and migratory biology. "This is important in order to identify key habitats and movement behaviors for this highly threatened population and help guide conservation management strategies." 

"Since starting grad school I have gotten involved with multiple projects, completed some relevant technical training, and laid some groundwork for my research during my first field season, where I deployed satellite transmitters and collected tissue samples from four hawksbill turtles on Big Island. I also presented my master’s research virtually at the International Sea Turtle Symposium in Australia, which I am in the final stages of editing for publication, and submitted an abstract for my current research to present at the same conference next year in Colombia." 
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Eley has shared that "Hawksbill turtles have not commonly been harvested for food because they feed on toxic sponges which make themselves toxic  but instead have historically been exploited for the tortoiseshell trade. So, watch out for products labeled as “tortoiseshell” to avoid purchasing jewelry made from this beautiful endangered species!"

We did not know about the exploitation of turtle shells , Mahalo for educating us, Eley!​

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January 2023
Amelia Meier
Post Doctoral Candidate
Elizabeth Madin Fellow, HIMB
The first member spotlight of the new year goes to Amelia Meier. Amelia graduated from Duke University with a PhD in Environment. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow under Elizabeth Madin!

Her research broadly "focuses on how environmental variation influences animal behavior and how human disturbance might disrupt these ecological processes. I am currently studying the association between sharks and the presence/size of coral reef halos - rings of sand around reefs likely created by selective foraging of fish due to fear of predators." 

Something fun: I previously lived and worked in Gabon studying elephants. 

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