Online Lecture - Picking up the Pieces: Tracking Elusive Predators on Mollusks

The elusive nature of large, shell-crushing predators (such as rays and sea turtles) creates challenges to our scientific understanding of the ecological role of these predators in seabed communities, including where and when they interact with molluscan shellfish.

This talk covers how Dr. Matt Ajemian’s team uses innovative methods and technologies including shell fragmentation, eDNA, and acoustics to detect and study predator-prey interactions (a “who crushed who”?) within various underwater habitats and conditions. Attendees will also experience how Ajemian’s team uses specialized tags to track the foraging behavior of a large predator, the whitespotted eagle ray, in Bermuda and Florida. The talk closes with a discussion of the relevance of the findings to marine ecosystem ecology and applied shellfish restoration projects occurring in the state of
Florida and beyond.

Dr. Ajemian is an Associate Research Professor at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) where he leads the Fisheries Ecology and Conservation program at FAU Harbor Branch. He has published over 80 articles and has received competitive early-career awards from the National Academy of Sciences and the National Science Foundation, as well as applied grants from NOAA Fisheries, the Department of Defense, and Florida Sea Grant.

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