Below is a list of example projects and topics for possible funding from the Sea Turtle License Plate Grants Program. Please note that submitted applications based on this list are not guanteed to be funded. The list is only to give potential applicants an idea of the range of projects considered by the Grants Committee.
Education
Sea Turtle Public Awareness Education Program - Increase local community and visitor awareness of marine turtle issues, with the intended primary outcome of decreasing the negative effects on marine turtles by humans.
Sea Turtle Exhibit - Develop and produce educational sea turtle exhibit to provide information on marine turtle biology, life history, habitat needs and everyday conservation activities for visitors to practice in their daily lives. Focus could be on the marine turtles that utilize local beaches for nesting and offshore reefs for foraging. Enhance the visitor experience and raise awareness about the role the local environments play in sea turtle life history and why it is important to understand the impacts that human activity have on the sea turtles that share the local beaches and offshore waters.
Sea Turtle Signs for Public Beach Access - Develop and produce signs to educate beachgoers on proper behavior, while on the beach, regarding sea turtles and their conservation. Help to decrease disturbances of nesting sea turtles and hatchlings by the general public visiting the beach. Includes basic sea turlte biology and local regulations.
Youth Marine Biologist Programs - Provide a Youth Marine Biologist Program to include children in hands-on learning activities about sea turtle conservation, biology, ecology and rehabilitation. Includes development/improvement of age appropriate curriculum and materials.
Turtle Educational Toolkit - Develop or reproduce existing toolkit to promote the protection of marine habitats and marine turtle populations. Teacher toolkit could contain lesson plans, activities, posters, and videos. Project could also provide training to teachers at a local elementary school to use the kits. Toolkit curriculum/activities should be aligned to state standards.
Conservation & Rehabilitation
Lighting Toolkit for Beachfront Properties - Develop materials for use by coastal property owners/managers to assess their current lighting and provide them with the resources they need to ensure their property is sea turtle friendly and compliant with local lighting ordinances.
Lighting Improvement Project - Provides for lighting upgrades, retrofit and replacement of existing fixtures with sea turtle friendly lighting options.
Veterinary Equipment for Sea Turtle Rehabilitation - Purchase veterinary equipment to increase the number of turtles through a facility each year and/or to improve the level of care for the turtles. Establishing onsite access to equipment can reduce stress to sea turtle patients and provide the best diagnosis and treatment possible.
Capacity Building of the Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Facilities - Ordering and installed additional
fiberglass tanks to a rehabilitation facility.
Partnership for Lighting Improvement - Localized effort to address the safety concerns of private coastal interests, while furthering the goals of sea turtle conservation through a public-private partnership for lighting improvement. Use of funds to retrofit publicly-owned/leased pole mounted, open-bottom, high-pressure sodium fixtures with those more suitable for use near sea turtle nesting habitat (i.e., full cutoff fixtures or alternative light sources such as low-pressure sodium or red LED light).
Research
Research ideas were compiled by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's marine turtle recovery program. These identify some of the current gaps in the knowledge of sea turtles or of how environmental modifications may affect sea turtles.
Effects of geotextile tubes. What are the effects of geotextile tubes (very large sandbags that are buried in the beach to inhibit erosion) on nesting sea turtles, incubating eggs, and emerging hatchlings? What are the effects of geotextile tubes on the physical characteristics of sand that is over them? What are the effects of geotextile tubes on sea turtle nesting beach profiles and do any differences in profiles correlate with differences in the rate of nest abandonment, the elevation of nests, and egg survivorship following erosion events?
Shoreline stabilization history. A historical summary of shoreline stabilization efforts (including armoring, nourishment, etc.) on sea turtle nesting beaches would be useful. Results of such an effort would include a detailed (i.e. beach-level) written history as well as a searchable database which could be periodically updated.
Fibropapilloma tumor re-growth during rehabilitation. If a turtle experiences re-growth of fibropapilloma tumors following removal, when is it most likely to occur (6 months after removal, 12 months after removal)? Is there a seasonality associated with FP tumor re-growth? Does the presence of ledges or other "hiding spots" decrease FP tumor re-growth?
Value of pocket beaches. What is the value of pocket beaches (relatively small beaches with armored beachfront on each side)? How much nesting occurs on pocket beaches?
Effects of vehicular traffic on the beach ecosystem in Florida. Research is needed to examine the effects of vehicular traffic on the beach ecosystem in Florida, with particular attention to the impacts on sea turtles, shorebirds and vegetation.
Beach cleaning. How does beach cleaning alter a beach and how does or how may this affect nesting sea turtles, incubating eggs, or emerging hatchlings?
Survivorship of disoriented hatchlings. To what extent does disorientation by artificial lighting change the survival rate of hatchling sea turtles? How many disoriented turtles reach the water, and of these, what is their rate of mortality from predation and other factors? What rate of mortality should be used to extrapolate from rates of disorientation to rates of mortality?
Reproductive cost of non-nesting emergences.What effect do repeated non-nesting emergences have on reproduction in sea turtles? These non-nesting emergences may range from turning back after only reaching the swash zone to abandoning a nest cavity and body pit. Do females that are prevented from nesting skip a nesting event (e.g., drop eggs at sea)? For eggs that are laid after multiple unsuccessful attempts, what is their hatching success? How does repeated nest-site abandonment affect future nest-site choice?
Description of Florida-based fisheries from the perspective of sea turtle interactions. What fisheries are using what gear in what way and how might the activities of these fisheries affect sea turtle mortality, reproduction, and trophic relationships? This study might include analysis of catch statistics, observer programs, lost-gear assessments, or interviews of fishers and gear merchants.
Maturity status of Florida sea turtles. There is little or no data from Florida on the range of sizes of the various species of sea turtles (of both genders) during pubescence and after maturity. Several hundred Florida sea turtles of various species and life stages are necropsied each year and their gonads could be collected to determine maturity status.
Fibropapilloma tumor re-growth during rehabilitation. If a turtle experiences re-growth of fibropapilloma tumors following removal, when is it most likely to occur (6 months after removal, 12 months after removal)? Is there a seasonality associated with FP tumor re-growth?
Fibropapilloma tumor score as a predictor of rehabilitation outcome. Determine if the current tumor classification/scoring system is a suitable predictor for rehabilitation outcome. Using the classification system outlined in Work & Balazs 1999, assign a tumor score to all live turtles that were transferred to a rehabilitation facility displaying tumors or developed tumors while in captivity. This may require the review of stranding forms, papilloma tumor "maps", medical charts and photographs from sources including FWC, rehabilitation facilities, and researchers. Identify and describe any relationships between tumor score and rehabilitation outcome.
Analysis of the economic value of Florida sea turtles. How are Florida's sea turtles perceived by the public in terms of use and non-use values? What level of sea turtle abundance and access to sea turtles do Florida citizens want? What are the public's attitudes and motives regarding sea turtle conservation? This study might include contingent valuation and other economic measures as well as more direct measures of human behavior such as attendance of sea turtle walks, lectures, and assessments of sea turtle representationsin the marketplace (such as to promote tourism).
Identification of non-point source light causing hatchling disorientation. Many hatchling disorientation events are due to readily identifiable point sources of light. But disorientation also occurs where collective and other non-point sources of light, such as skyglow, are the only visible cause. What is the contribution of non-point source light to hatchling disorientation in Florida? Are there examples of persistent disorientation where all point sources have been managed? How do dune silhouette, beach width, and spectral properties of contributing sources affect disorientation from non-point sources? What are some specific management recommendations for minimizing disorientation from non-point sources?