July 20
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This episode is a little different than our usual "regular" episode, in that is the audio of the video live stream, and a number of images and videos are referenced in the recording. Because the subject matter is so shocking, and really should be a wake up call for many people (listen for the distressing stats of how many chicks are found to have ingested plastic in the colony of Flesh-footed Shearwaters on Lord Howe Island).
Dr. Jennifer Lavers is on of the co-leads of The Adrift Lab, based at the University of Tasmania. Jenn has been studying the same colony of Flesh-footed Shearwaters on Lord Howe Island for almost two decades. There is continuous data for this entire, except for one breeding season, when fieldwork was not conducted due to pandemic restrictions.
Joining Dr. Lavers in this discussion are two PhD candidates, Lill Stewart and Alix de Jersey and Honours student, Nina Jones. Each of these students have a different focus in their respective projects, but I am sure each with turn out to be significant when it comes to how the wider community deals with the ubiquitous issue of plastic pollution.
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You will have noticed I mixed up Alex Bond with the incomparable Dr. Alex Evans. Follow them both!
Shearwater sound clips credits
All clips from xeno-canto.org under the following licence - NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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Adrift Lab, Alix de Jersey, fieldwork, Flesh-footed Shearwaters, Jennifer Lavers, Lillian Stewart, Lord Howe Island, Nina Jones, Plastic pollution, research, seabirds
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