The BHIC Pipeline
The BHIC Pipeline
I began my journey at BHIC as a sea turtle intern in 2022. At the time I was just a Kansas girl with no marine experience but a huge dream to “save the sea turtles”. I quickly fell for the beauty of BHI and even more for sea turtle conservation.
2022 was a big sea turtle nesting year (148 nests) and we kept busy between nesting moms, BHIC events, and hatchling season. Every night was fast paced and riddled with quick decision making, and I thrived on the adrenaline of field work. At the end of the summer I stayed to finish the hatchling season and found my niche- I was (and still am), enamored by hatchlings. My intern project fed into this, assessing differences in hatchling size across their emergence order. I wanted to see if larger hatchlings were emerging first, and if the stragglers found at excavations were significantly smaller. As I did background research for this project, I spiraled deeper and deeper into the factors that could influence hatchling quality. I dreamed of expanding my project to tie in the impacts of maternal health and environmental factors such as temperature and water inundation of the nest.
In 2023 I was rehired at BHIC as the first Sea Turtle Technician, and this position shaped my life in ways I could never imagine. I continued my intern project and presented it as a poster at my first ever conference- the 2023 Southeastern Regional Sea Turtle Meeting. 2023 was another high nesting year (122 nests) and the first year for the conservation, education and sea turtle technician positions. During that year I refined my field skills but also got a taste of leadership, helping our sea turtle biologist manage the team. I was devastated when this position ended, but knew under the careful mentorship of the amazing staff at BHI I was prepared to spread my wings.
The following year I began a seasonal job at Georgia Sea Turtle Center on their nighttime tagging program, continuing to exercise my sea turtle tagging skills at a higher density nesting beach. I also began my M.S. in Biological Oceanography at Florida State University under Dr. Mariana Fuentes in the Marine Turtle Research, Ecology and Conservation group. Here I finally got to study the effects of nest inundation on loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings. Specifically I assessed how inundation impacted hatchling size, fitness, and incubation temperatures. This was a dream project, and felt like a full circle moment for me, combining all the research interests I had cultivated since my time at BHIC.
While I was completing my master’s thesis I returned to BHIC as the Seasonal Coastal Outreach Coordinator, a joint sea turtle and education position. I assisted with the end of hatchling season and led the beach section of our Barrier Island Botanist field trip before transitioning into the Philanthropy department. I am now the Philanthropy Assistant, managing the Adopt-a program and other donor communications.
Ali Johnson, Philanthropy Assistant
