Karen A. Bjorndal

Center For Sea Turtle Research

Professor
Ph.D. University of Florida, 1979
Director, Archie Carr
Center for Sea Turtle Research

320 Carr
Box 118525
Gainesville, FL 32611-8525
Voice: (352)392-5194
Fax: (352) 392-9166
kab@zoology.ufl.edu

Research Interests

Biology of sea turtles. Comparative nutritional ecology of herbivores with emphasis on how and to what extent nutrition acts as a controlling mechanism on their biology--particularly on their growth and reproductive output. The interrelationships of diet selection, digestive efficiency, gut fermentations, and gut morphology..

Students Currently Supervised

Kimberly Reich (PhD)
Nutritional and foraging ecology of marine vertebrates with particular interest in the application of naturally occurring stable isotopes to investigate migration, ontogenetic shifts in diet, and foraging ecology of marine turtles.

Hannah Vander Zanden (PhD)
http://www.zoology.ufl.edu/hvz
Ecological roles of sea turtles, particularly their role in nutrient transport.

Melania Lopez (PhD)
Genetic structure and migratory connectivity of sea turtle populations.

Mariela Pajuelo (MS)
Foraging ecology of oceanic loggerheads in the eastern Pacific.

Representative Publications

Bjorndal, K.A. 2003. Roles of loggerhead sea turtles in marine ecosystems. Pages 235-254 in A.B. Bolten and B.E. Witherington (editors), Loggerhead sea turtles. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C.

Bjorndal, K.A., A.B. Bolten, and M.Y. Chaloupka. 2005. Evaluating trends in abundance of immature green turtles, Chelonia mydas, in the Greater Caribbean. Ecological Applications 15:304-314.

Moran, K.L. and K.A. Bjorndal. 2005. Simulated green turtle grazing affects structure and productivity of seagrass pastures. Marine Ecology Progress Series 305:235-247.

Pryor, G.S. and K.A. Bjorndal. 2005. Effects of the nematode Gyrinicola batrachiensis on development, gut morphology, and fermentation in bullfrog tadpoles (Rana catesbeiana): A novel mutualism. Journal of Experimental Zoology 303A:704-712.

Reich, K.J., K.A. Bjorndal, and A.B. Bolten. 2007. The lost years of green turtles: using stable isotopes to study cryptic lifestages. Biology Letters 3:712–714.