Seas The Day

In 2008 Ecuador became the first country to put Rights of Nature into its constitution. But what is Rights of Nature and what role does it play in achieving environmental goals and human wellbeing? In this episode, Kelly, Elizabeth, and Cole explores the concept of Rights of Nature and how it has been implemented in Ecuador by following the landmark case of Los Cedros Protected Forest. It will the...

In 2022, we published three resiliency fables written by students participating in a Duke Engage summer program at Duke University Marine Lab. The fables — Ollie the Orca. Gilbert the Grouper, Terry the Tree and The Live Oak and The Wind — were an experiment, developed as part of a resiliency curriculum being co-developed by the Community Science Initiative and Carteret County middle school teache...

In this episode, Alyssa Klim discusses the role of knowledge in shark and ray conservation in small local coastal communities in Indonesia. She looks at examples of conservation efforts that have failed to consider local context, and discusses how local knowledge can be incorporated into conservation practices and what this means for local communities. The episode features insights from Rafid Shid...

This episode features a recording of a live story telling event, “Fish Tales.” Hosted by Ally Kristan, staff at the Duke University Marine Lab, the episode features 5 stories, by Barbara Garrity-Blake, Dana Grieco, Brandon Letchworth, Ally Kristan, and Alexis Longmire. The live event was scheduled on the eve of Halloween, so you might note a ‘spooky’ theme. Fish Tales is inspired by NPR’s The Moth...

This episode explores the topic of food sovereignty using the case study of Palestine. Tasneem and Porter examine the different elements of food sovereignty that can be seen in the Palestinian Keffiyeh and how they manifest in Palestinian’s culture and their economy. Finally, they look at policies that currently restrict those elements of food sovereignty. Part of the Conservation and Development...

In this episode Juan Rebellon, Margaret Morrison, Jordan Scott, and Juliette Lee, students from Dr. Xavier Basurto’s Community-Based Marine Conservation travel course in April 2022, explore cultural changes in the Comcaác Indigenous community and Kino Bay fishing community through the lens of food systems. Listeners will hear community members talk about topics such as their favorite foods, how th...

In this episode, Aileen Lavelle and Sara Norton of the Duke University Bass Connections team “Belugas; Sentinels of Climate Change in the Arctic” share their experiences traveling to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, the Polar Bear Capital of the World, to see belugas in person and learn about the impacts of climate change on these charismatic species and the ecotourism industry in a small, isolated to...

The Duke University Marine Lab hosts a holiday party in early December, and students are encouraged to think about performing a skit, or song, or dance. Mostly, they don't. Classes are still in session, exams are coming up, they are contemplating moving back to main campus after a semester at the lab. It's a busy time. But in 2023 the undergraduates took up the challenge. Let by Sage Hirschfeld an...

The Duke University Marine Lab is home to second year students in the coastal and marine systems (CAMS) concentration of a Masters of Environmental Management (MEM) degree. During the fall of their first year when they are based on main campus in Durham, CAMS students visit the marine lab for a weekend to meet faculty, staff, and students and to see a bit of Beaufort. The Seas the Day team took th...

In this episode, the students in the Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles travel class document their trip to Culerbra, Puerto Rico, and St. Croix, in the US Virgin Islands in a kind of 'travel diary'. Reflecting on what they did, who they met, and how they felt, the students effectively capture the very essence of travel courses and the heady combination of experiential learning and personal d...

Masters students Mariana Kendall and Nicholas Fairbairn sit down with Dr. Carter Smith to learn about her circuitous career path to research ecology. Carter explains how her non-traditional and non-linear path to the sciences has made her a better researcher and educator. We center our conversation on the topic of ecological restoration, a field that inspired EO Wilson to deem the coming era the “...

How can we bridge extremely localized, traditional knowledge with the “best available science” of Western knowledge? Students of Dr. Xavier Basurto’s Community-Based Marine Conservation travelled to the Gulf of California in Sonora State, Mexico in April 2022, to find out. Brittany Tholan, Claire Huang, Grace Jennings, Jieyi Wang, and Zoe Wong explore how knowledge is passed down among the indigen...

What role do sea turtle hatcheries play in conservation? In this episode, Sarah Sevilla and Jessica Stevens dive into the background and various uses of hatcheries, compare the pros and cons, discuss their use in the US versus other nations, and explore improvements in and new technologies for sea turtle management. This episode features Airton Jesus, a field manager at the Turtle Foundation in Ca...

Restoration is a relatively new tool used for the conservation of marine and terrestrial ecosystems. As such, a certain level of uncertainty surrounds what restoration actually is. Our podcast seeks to understand how restoration is defined, specifically as it pertains to Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework adopted by the the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 20...

In this episode, Duke Marine Lab students Claire Helgerson, Kendra Rentz, and Anna de Hostos explore the processes by which researchers tag sea turtles to track migratory patterns and learn more about their somewhat mysterious life histories. Through interviews with various researchers, they discuss the methods of managing, processing and sharing tagging data in several sea turtle databases.

In December 2022, world leaders at the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted a proposal to conserve 30% of the Earth by 2030. This proposal was highly controversial and has met with varied reactions from Indigenous Peoples. In this episode, hosts Claudia Deeg and Devin Domeyer discuss the history of conservation’s violence towards Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples' perspectives on the 30...

In this episode, the students in the Biology and Conservation of Sea Turtles class from the Duke Marine Lab explore the past, current and future status of sea turtle conservation on St. Croix, in the US Virgin Islands. Based on interviews conducted during a 10-day immersive experience on St. Croix, the episode reviews the successes, challenges, and unknowns of conserving and managing sea turtle po...

What is algae biofuel? How do we make it? And how may it be used in the future? In today’s episode of Lab Notes, Junyao Gu interviews the algae biofuel research team at the Duke University Marine Lab, including faculty, technicians, and current and previous students, to discuss the future of biofuel in the context of their research.

In this third installment of a three episode series, Spencer Moyle reads his story of Terry the Tree and Rory McCollum follows with The Live Oak and the Wind. Both stories were written as part of a Duke Engage program exploring concepts of social and ecological resilience. The program was run by Dr. Liz DeMattia, director of the Community Science Initiative, with the assistance of PhD student Laur...

In this second of a three episode series, Andres Hernandez reads his story of Gilbert the Grouper. The story explores concepts of resilience and was written as part of a Duke Engage summer program at Duke University Marine Lab. The program was run by Dr. Liz DeMattia, director of the Community Science Initiative, with the assistance of PhD student Laura Givens, who was the site coordinator for Duk...

In this first of a three episode series, Amy Buckalew reads her story of Ollie the Orca. The story explores concepts of resilience and was written as part of a Duke Engage summer program at Duke University Marine Lab. The program was run by Dr. Liz DeMattia, director of the Community Science Initiative, with the assistance of PhD student Laura Givens, who was the site coordinator for Duke Engage,...

Seas the Day is back from a summer break! Summer at a marine lab is a busy time when many faculty and students take advantage of the weather and a break from teaching to do 'field work'. Field work is a core activity in many disciplines, sometimes described as a 'rite of passage' on the road to earning a PhD, and something many researchers look forward to throughout their careers. We asked Duke ma...

For this episode of PhDeep, Becca Horan interviews Duke Marine Science and Conservation alumna and current postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Hillary Smith, to learn more about her research on gender equity in small scale fisheries and how she navigated the PhD while becoming a parent, mentoring undergrads, and facing the daunting task of dissertation writing with a buddy. 

In this episode, Cat and Jingyi discuss artificial islands and their role in ocean development. They examine some of the island nations in the Pacific Ocean, such as Kiribati, that are ‘sinking’ due to sea-level-rise and explore how artificial islands might offer such places a solution to this imminent crisis.

In this episode, Lisa Campbell shares a story of sailing, science, and Sargassum. Based on a 3-day research cruise to the Sargasso Sea, the story was originally developed during a workshop with The Story Collider, a non-profit organization that “helps people of all walks of life -- from scientists to doctors to patients to engineers to teachers to firefighters -- tell their true, personal stories...