James Chatfield (He/ Him)

I am a first year PhD student researching the variation in life history of green turtles which nest in North Cyprus. I previously completed my MSci degree at the University of Exeter's Penryn campus, where I studied the importance of individual differences in the behaviour of two species: for my undergraduate thesis I explored the role of personality variation in a model decapod crustacean, and for my Master's thesis I explored the development of indivdual movement and foraging strategies in recently weaned grey seals. 

I'm currently working to understand the life history variation of Mediterranean green turtles, which nest on Alagadi beach in Northern Cyprus. I'm using a long-term individual-based dataset, coupled with Bayesian statistical methods, molecular techniques, and approaches from quantitative genetics to understand the variation and trade-offs in crucial life history traits in this species. I'm interested in understanding how key life history traits, such as reproduction, survival, and growth change throughout an individual's lifetime, to answer questions about whether things like yearly survival and reproductive effort decline as individuals age. Additionally, I'm interested in using genetic techniques to estimate key population parameters, such as age at sexual maturity and generation length. 

For my PhD I am being supervised by Professor Annette Broderick Profile | University of Exeter, Dr Erik Postma Profile | University of Exeter, and Dr Xavier Harrison Profile | University of Exeter, in collaboration with the North Cyprus Society for the Protection of Turtles' (SPOT) Marine Turtle Conservation Project.