Rachel Teller
As a student in the Master of Environmental Studies program at the University of Charleston, I am involved in an internship involving local Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) conservation efforts. I am involved with projects at nesting beaches on three South Carolina barrier islands: Dewees Island, a private community committed to environmental education and preservation, and two within the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge- Lighthouse Island and Cape Island, which has the highest density of Loggerhead nests north of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
My duties involve monitoring air and sea surface temperatures and rainfall and patrolling the beaches for tracks and nests. If a nest is found, its location is recorded with a GPS unit, and if necessary, the nest will be moved to an alternate site or a hatchery (depending on protocol) at which time the clutch size would be recorded. I also assist in monitoring the nests for predation and hatchling emergence, performing nest inventories after emergence, as well as other various duties associated with the management of this endangered marine reptile.
I plan to use this field experience and the time spent with my teacher partner to develop an interactive website on Southeastern Sea Turtles that will contain identification techniques, species’ characteristics, and downloadable, inquiry-based lesson plans and activities. The lesson plans will utilize data gathered during the 2004 and 2005 Loggerhead nesting seasons to aid in understanding concepts ranging from mapping on a coordinate plane, to predicting sex ratios of hatchlings, to critically thinking of ways to in which environmental and anthropogenic changes could have an effect on future populations and how, if at all, we should prepare for these changes.
*Facilitating the Partnership between Inquiry and Technology
II. Life History
III. Management
IV. Reinforcement
2.Management_Decisions/Mapping
3.Calculating_Success_Rates
5Es_Life_as_Loggerhead.pdf
Examples/Answers
Life_as_Loggerhead_wkst.pdf
1.Dichotomous_Key
2.Venn_Diagram
Loggerhead_Game
Examples/Answers
LifeHistory_wkst.pdf
Turtle_Trivia_front.pdf
Turtle_Trivia_back.pdf
Game_Square_Ideas.pdf
Game_Pieces.pdf
Examples/Answers
Dichotomous_Key_FlowChart.pdf
Turtle_ID.pdf
Dichotomous_Key_wkst.pdf
Management_PhotoDoc.ppt
Examples/Answers
Abridged_Mgmt_worksheet.pdf
Abridged_Mgmt_PhotoDoc.ppt
2004success_rates_data.pdf
Examples/Answers
5Es_Success_Rates.pdf
2004success_worksheet.pdf
2004success_rates_data.xls
1.LifeHistory_PhotoDoc
2.Estimating_Sex_Ratios
3.Life_as_a_Loggerhead
PamphletorFlyerturtle3.doc
5Es_Venn_Diagram.doc
Examples/Answers
answersTurtle_ID.pdf
answers2004sex_ratio_data.pdf
answers2004success_wkst.pdf
Example_Warning_Sign.pdf
answers2004success_data.pdf
5Es_Sex_Ratios.pdf
Examples/Answers
2004sex_ratio_data.pdf
2004sex_ratio_data.xls
Sullivans_Island_map.pdf
SI_nest_locations.pdf
Isle_of_Palms_map.pdf
5Es_Mgmt&Mapping.pdf
IOP_nest_locations.pdf
Examples/Answers
example_journal2.pdf
answersLoggerhead_wkst.pdf
example_journal1.pdf
answersLifeHistory_wkst.pdf
Vocab_Paragraph.pdf
Venn.pdf
answersSI_nest_locations.pdf
answersIOP_nest_locations.pdf
*Please check back for a link to Rachel's official website*
tempelge@musc.edu