Lecture: Why do we study sea turtles? The greatest survivors of all time by Lisa Poppi

TIME: Refreshments from 7pm, lecture from 7.30pm

VENUE: Salon 1, Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi Hotel and Villas, Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

LECTURE TITLE:  Why do we study sea turtles? The greatest survivors of all time by Lisa Poppi

LECTURE SUMMARY:

The evolutionary position of turtles still puzzles the scientific community. Turtle physiology and anatomy are very unique. They are incredibly long-lived animals (with members of some species routinely living over a century), have temperature-dependent sex determination and can survive severely cold, hypoxic, and hypocaloric conditions for years and perhaps decades. Sea turtles are at the top of the food chain and, as top predators, play a crucial role in maintaining the structure and function of oceanic marine ecosystems. As large marine vertebrates, sea turtles, due to their long life, can potentially be used to determine the environmental status of marine ecosystems, especially when the most dangerous threats are from human activities (pollution, marine litter, disturbance to nesting, by-catch etc.) The IUCN Red List (the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature) classifies three species of sea turtle as either "Endangered" or "Critically Endangered". An additional three species are classified as "Vulnerable".

In this presentation we will learn how sea turtles live and the threats that affect them, as seen trough the eyes of a vet pathologist. We will discover how an animal from the very distant past can teach us innovative things and why very specialized mammals such as us human beings must protect one of our most distant ancestors.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Lisa Poppi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science (Veterinary Medicine) at the University of Padua, Italy. She works in the Veterinary General Pathology and Veterinary Pathology area, performing necropsies and histopathological analyses. Passionate about reptiles, she spent the last few years studying the causes of death afflicting sea turtles in the Adriatic Sea.  She recently edited a book entitled "Sea turtle management manual".