Christine Figgener - PhD Candidate
Chris is a behavioural ecologist with a passion for conservation biology. She has found her way into our lab after working eight years in marine conservation in Costa Rica. Her focus species are marine turtles and cetaceans and she has lead a variety of different science-based conservation projects over the years.
She is now working on her doctoral thesis, where she is studying the underlying mechanisms of a female behavioural polymorphism found in olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea).
Her most recent claim to fame is a viral video she filmed and published in 2015 showing her research team removing a plastic straw from an olive ridley sea turtle in Costa Rica. The video caused an uproar, has been clicked more than 35 million times as of now and has been featured internationally in different media. She has used the momentum of the video for her advocacy and is spreading awareness of the detrimental effects plastic debris has in the oceans, on wildlife, and on human health.
Research Interests
behavioural ecology and conservation of large marine vertebrates; spatial ecology; reproductive biology; applied conservation biology;
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Figgener C, Bernardo J, Plotkin PT (2019). MarTurtSI, a global database of stable isotope analyses of marine turtles. Scientific Data. 6: 16
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Figgener C, Bernardo J, Plotkin PT (2019). Beyond trophic morphology: stable isotopes reveal ubiquitous versatility in marine turtle trophic ecology. Biological Reviews
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Figgener C, Beck E, Dunlop D, Castillo-MacCarthy A (2018). Loxocemus bicolor. Diet. Herpetological Review. 49(1):133
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Robinson NJ, Figgener C, Gatto C, Lazo-Wasem EA, Paladino FV, Santidrian Tomillo P, Zardus JD, Pinou T (2017). Assessing potential limitations when characterising the epibiota of marine megafauna: Effect of gender, sampling location, and inter-annual variation on the epibiont communities of olive ridley sea turtles. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 497:71-77
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Figgener C, Chacón D, Jensen M and Feldhaar H (2016). Paternity re-vistited in a recovering population of Caribbean leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 475: 114-123
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Robinson NJ, Figgener C (2015). Plastic straw found inside the nostril of an olive ridley sea turtle. Marine Turtle Newsletter, 147: 5-6
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Oviedo L, Herra-Miranda D, Pacheco-Polanco JD, Figgener C, Márquez-Artavia A, and Quirós-Pereira W, Miguel Iñiguez (2015). Diversidad de cetáceos en el paisaje marino costeros de Golfo Dulce, Península de Osa, Costa Rica. International Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation (Revista de Biología Tropical), 63 (Suppl.1): 395-406
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Pacheco-Polanco JD, Herra-Miranda D, Oviedo L, Quirós-Pereira W, and Figgener C (2015). Agregaciones de Alimentación del Tiburón Ballena Rhincodon typus, Smith 1828 (Orectolobiformes: Rhincodontidae) en la Cuenca Interna de Golfo Dulce, Península de Osa, Costa Rica. International Journal of Tropical Biology and Conservation (Revista de Biología Tropical), 63 (Suppl.1): 299-306