IOSEA Year of the Turtle Seminar
Wednesday 29th November 2006: 6.30pm
http://snipurl.com/yot2006bintan

Multi-Purpose Hall, Pierce Road (see map: http://snipurl.com/yot2006bintan)
National Biodiversity Reference Centre, National Parks Board

I: "There's No Place Like Home: Investigating Nest Site Fidelity in
Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea)."
II: "Bintan Resorts Turtle Conservation Initiative: identification of issues
and preliminary results."

Host: Jeffrey Low


Talk 1: "There's No Place Like Home: Investigating Nest Site Fidelity in
Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea)"

By Eric Nordmoe
Associate Professor, Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Visiting Scientist, National Institute of Education/Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore

About the talk - Do nesting leatherback sea turtles have a favourite spot on
the beach? While there is general consensus that a female leatherback
typically returns to nest at her natal beach, there is less certainty about
whether she displays fidelity to a specific location on the beach. As
leatherback populations in many areas of Asia are declining, the answer to
this question may have important implications for sea turtle conservation
methods. Using individual nest site selection data collected over 13 seasons
at a nesting beach in Central America, I will discuss applied statistical
modeling work investigating whether leatherbacks do indeed exhibit "nest
site fidelity," the tendency to repeatedly nest at or near the same location
on their nesting beach. Possible implications for conservation efforts in
Asia will be considered.

About the speaker - Eric Nordmoe is an Associate Professor of Statistics at
Kalamazoo College in Michigan. After completing his bachelorŐs degree in
economics at the University of Chicago in 1981, he worked in the market
research industry for seven years. He returned to academics and completed at
PhD in statistics at Northwestern University in 1993. He was a lecturer in
Singapore with the department of economics and statistics at NUS from 1993
to 1996.

Since 1996, he has been with Kalamazoo College in the US teaching
introductory and advanced statistics courses and carrying out research in
statistics education and applications. In 2002, he began collaborating with
a student and a biologist colleague studying leatherback sea turtles nesting
in Central America. He was delighted to find that his experience developing
models to study brand loyalty in market research applied directly to the
problem of investigating site fidelity in sea turtles.

Since 2002, he has been actively involved in the application of statistical
models to the analysis of sea turtle nesting data. He has continued this
work during his sabbatical year 2006 as a visiting scientist with NIE/NTU
with the immensely valuable support of his host, Professor CH Diong.

Talk 2: "Bintan Resorts Turtle Conservation Initiative: identification of
issues and preliminary results"

By Ranan Samanya
Senior Manager, Environmental and Health Division, PT. Bintan Resorts
Cakrawala

About the talk - An effort to bring back the good old days of the turtles in
northen Bintan Island, Indonesia, was initiated by Bintan Resorts back in
2004.

Potential landing sites were determined, and a hatchery was set-up. Several
issues encountred during the course of time were identified, and the paths
being taken to overcome them are discussed. Preliminary results of the three
years work in turtle survey and hatchlings releases are also explained.

About the speaker - Ranan Samanya finished his bachelor's degree in
freshwater biology from Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga,
Indonesia in 1989.

After completing his MSc. in marine ecology from Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
Belgium, in 1991, he joined the Belgian Institute of Nature Conservation,
where studies were done to enhance the environmental condition of the
Scheldt Estuary.

In 1997 he returned to Indonesia and worked for several geothermal and
mining companies to mitigate environmental issues in Java, Bali, and Sumbawa
islands. He has been with Bintan Resorts since 2001.

The IOSEA Year of the Turtle Committe, Singapore is a partnership between
several government bodies, university institutions and non-governmental
organisations in Singapore: NIE/NTU, Underwater World, BWV, WildSingapore,
AVA, NParks, NSS and NUS RMBR.


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