James Chatfield (He/ Him)

I am a second 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. Broadly, I'm interested in what causes variation in key life history traits such as survival and reproduction, and the relative importance of things like aging, genetics, and evnironmental factors in shaping these patterns.

I have experience in field work related to sea turtles, having spent about 6 months working with turtles in Northern Cyprus across 3 years. I have also spent a lot of time in the lab, working to understand how we can use genetic information to further our knowledge of key population parameters, and the adaptive potential to future change, of sea turtles.

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.