Introducing the 2018 Field Team: Tara Cousins

Howdy all,
My field season this year requires me to stay from June to mid-September in order to sample from the July, August and September arribadas. However, my students in the US (Ryota, Matti, Nicole and Alexis) all need to return to classes by the end of August. Luckily, I received very qualified applications from two recent graduates from Northern Ireland that could stay to help me through solitary nesting and September arribada sampling! They have been working with us for the last two weeks, and now I am pleased to introduce the first of our second stage team, Tara Cousins.

Hi, my name is Tara Cousins and I am a recent BSc Marine Science graduate from University of Ulster. I am extremely grateful to have this opportunity to assist Brie and her amazing team on their Olive Ridley sea turtle research project here in Costa Rica.

Introducing, the intrepid Tara Cousins!

 

Last year I was fortunate to gain a 7 month work experience in Tahiti, on the beautiful island of Moorea (French Polynesia) as a research technician. There I was able to acquire and develop the practical skills necessary for conducting Marine research both in fieldwork and Lab work. My project while I was there was to assess and monitor if the larval behavioural syndrome of the Amphiprioninae Chrysopterus (clownfish) was due to genetics or parental influences (nature vs nurture). To do this I had to acquire my sampling, I developed my diving skills and was able to become Sports diver certified as well as gain my boats licences.  As well as conducting my own research project, I was able to help other projects that were being conducted at the station: such as other clownfish projects involving hormone/stress balances, as well as helping with coral collection, assisting with catching, measuring, tagging, Identifying sex and DNA sampling of juvenile black tip reef and lemon sharks. I am very interested in animal cognition, behaviour and personality, as well as marine conservation. I have always been enthusiastic and intrigued by wildlife & Marine life, maybe like my research project in Tahiti this trait/drive I have is due to parental influences, as both my parents and my grandfather have an infectious passion for the sea.

I was drawn to this olive ridley turtle project as I currently have no experience working with Chelonioidea and wanted to develop my knowledge and skills with these magnificent creatures.  I am extremely excited to be a part of this team with Brie and to be gaining new insights from an expert in the field;  experiencing my first  Arribada, increasing my knowledge on turtle physiology,  mating and nesting habits as well as learning blood sampling and ultrasound imaging.  All this with a added bonus of experiencing a new culture and developing my very limited Spanish skills.

In October I will be commencing the next stage of my education at the University of Essex (Colchester) with a one year Master’s degree in Tropical Marine Biology. During this year I also hope to complete a Marine Mammal Medic training course with the British Divers Marine Life rescue as well as a Marine Mammal Observer Course, yes this will be a very busy year for me.  My ultimate goal is to eventually complete a PhD, but until then I will continue to do my part by volunteering, assisting, learning whenever and wherever I can.

The ocean contains many unanswered questions and I am on my journey to FIND my question to answer.