For the last 19 years I have been involved in sea turtle conservation. I am very much interested in many aspects of it: Sea turtle biology and ecology, local and global aspects of sea turtle populations, research, environmental ethics, politics, philosophy of conservation and of course wildlife photography! This exciting journey wouldn't have started if it had not been for ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece, on whose projects I enjoy volunteering till today! I have created a blog titled Sea Turtles All the Way Down, where I discuss various issues regarding sea turtle research and conservation.
My sea turtle photos & videos (which can be found on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube) have appeared among others in:
I have a strong interest in the in-water behaviour of the Zakynthos loggerhead sea turtles (mainly in-water) which I study through photos and videos. I am focusing on:
My sea turtle photos & videos (which can be found on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube) have appeared among others in:
- BBC Earth, BBC news, Science magazine, New York times, ARCHELON's website and informational material, MEDASSET's website and informational material, SWOT magazine, International Sea Turtle Society's website, Sea Turtle Conservancy annual calendar, Submerge diving magazine, National Marine Park of Zakynthos informational materia, North Carolina aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores (exhibition), ΘΑΛΑΤΤΑ documentary (in Greek), Thalassa documentary (in French), British Chelonia Group annual calendar, The Leatherback trust annual calendar, Terre Sauvage magazine
I have a strong interest in the in-water behaviour of the Zakynthos loggerhead sea turtles (mainly in-water) which I study through photos and videos. I am focusing on:
- Solitary and social behaviour
- Foraging behaviour
- Cleaning activities
- Response to the presence of humans underwater
- Photo-ID techniques (in charge of a photo database of more than 1700 individuals)
- The use of social media for sea turtle research and conservation
The TurtleTurtle wildlife photo-ID game
With the help of a 2025 QMUL Center for Public Engagement Large Grant, we made the first of its kind interactive wildlife photo-ID game. The task is to match turtles using photo-identification (photo-ID) and one can play endlessly trying to match sea turtle faces and in the same time learn facts about their lives!
The Zakynthos Turtles interactive platform
With the help of a 2023 QMUL Impact Acceleration Fund, and together with ARCHELON and MEDASSET we have created a unique interactive web-platform Zakynthos Turtles, which actively engages visitors and tour operators with responsible sea turtle conservation on Zakynthos Island, Greece and helps towards an adoption of turtle-friendly attitude in ecotouristic activities. Through this platform, visitors upload images of unique turtles that they have observed for individual photo-identification and receive information about them in real time e.g., including their behaviours, interesting stories, and quantification of the human pressure that their observed turtle is subject to (as simplified dissemination of my research).
Since 2024, the project is also supported by the British Chelonia Group and via a QMUL Centre for Public Engagement Small Grant.
Since 2024, the project is also supported by the British Chelonia Group and via a QMUL Centre for Public Engagement Small Grant.
Grants
- QMUL Centre for Public Engagement Large Grant 2025: The Wildlife Photo-ID Game: Can you do better than AI? The project led to the creation of the TurtleTurtle game.
- QMUL Centre for Public Engagement Small Grant 2024: Scaling the public engagement activities of the "Zakynthos Turtles" project.
- British Chelonia Group Conservation Grant 2024: Addressing the post-pandemic rise of the tourist pressure on an important Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtle population: Quantification, public engagement and influencing policy
- QMUL Impact Acceleration Fund 2023: Engaging citizens in responsible tourism: Integrating wildlife viewing with artificial intelligence for a novel user experience. The project led to the creation of the Zakynthos Turtles platform.
- SWOT small grant 2017: Studying how sea turtle foraging ecology overlaps with tourism pressure in a national park designed to protect breeding activity only: Outreach and management implications, awarded by the Oceanic Society and SWOT.
Activities
2025
2024
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2013
2012
2025
- The "Zakynthos Turtles" interactive platform: Sharing individual sea turtle scientific knowledge to engage ecotourists with sea turtle conservation in Zakynthos Island, Greece, (in Greek) [link to slides]
Invited speaker, iSea Citizen Science workshop, Athens, Greece, 30 April 2025 - Male loggerheads and photo-identification in Greece: Methods, key projects, and overview of generated knowledge, [Slides]
Invited talk (online) at the workshop "Male Sea Turtles: Global Research Update & Methodology Development for Guiding Conservation efforts", 43th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Accra, Ghana, 22-27 March 2025 - The "Zakynthos Turtles" interactive platform: Sharing individual sea turtle scientific knowledge to engage ecotourists with sea turtle conservation in Zakynthos Island, Greece,
Invited keynote talk, British Chelonia Group annual symposium, Cambridge, UK, 2 March 2025
2024
- "Show us the turtle, learn the story": An interactive platform for personalised engagement with sea turtle conservation in a Mediterranean tourist hotspot, [link to poster]
with Vincent Tarrit, Lukas Adam, Anna Stamatiou, Galini Samlidou, Aliki Panagopoulou.
Poster Presentation, 42th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Pattaya, Thailand, 24-28 March 2024. - Photo-based Sea Turtle Citizen Science Projects: From Opportunistic Data Collection to Creating Impact,
Half-day workshop, co-organised with Daphne Hoh, Chialing Fong (TurtleSpot Taiwan) at 42th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Pattaya, Thailand, 24-28 March 2024.
- Underwater and aerial observations of aggressive interactions among loggerhead sea turtles over foraging resources,
Invited seminar talk, University of Florida, USA, January 2023
- Objective method for quantifying changes to ecotourism viewing intensity on loggerhead sea turtles during the COVID-19 pandemic using a social media-based model,
with Lukas Adam, Gail Schofield.
Contributed talk, 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, Tetouan, Morocco, 18-21 October 2022 - Feeding sea turtles in the wild: The example of loggerheads in Greece,
with Panagiota Theodorou, Dimitris Margaritoulis.
Contributed poster, 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, Tetouan, Morocco, 18-21 October 2022 - Using drone imagery to study sea turtle cleaning stations and foraging behaviour,
Contributed talk at workshop "Using Drones for Sea Turtle Research and Conservation", 7th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles, Tetouan, Morocco, 18-21 October 2022 - Underwater and aerial observations of aggressive interactions among loggerhead sea turtles over foraging resources,
Invited seminar talk, University of Potsdam, July 2022 - Underwater and aerial observations of aggressive interactions among loggerhead sea turtles over foraging resources,
with Gail Schofield, Chloe Chapman, Akanksha Shah, Lucy Westover, Liam CD Dickson, Kostas Katselidis.
Contributed talk, 40th International Sea Turtle Symposium (Online), Perth, Australia, 25-28 March 2022
2020
- Linking temporally consistent tourism pressure and boat injuries to resident loggerhead sea turtles of Zakynthos island, Greece,
with Aliki Panagopoulou, Gail Schofield.
Contributed talk, 40th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Cartagena, Colombia, 14-20 March 2020.
[Conference postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic]
2019
- #CarettaCaretta: Using social media & photo identification to monitor tourism pressure on sea turtles,
with Aliki Panagopoulou, Gail Schofield.
Poster Presentation, 39th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, 2-8 February 2019. - What can social media photos tell us about sea turtle populations: A case study in Zakynthos island, Greece,
- Contributed talk, Photo ID Workshop, 39th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, 2-8 February 2019.
- Contributed talk at the workshop "Does what we do matter? The critical need to evaluate and how to do it", 39th
International Sea Turtle Symposium, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, 2-8 February 2019. - A review of the 39th International Sea Turtle Symposium 2019, with George Glen.
2018
- Photo-ID provides new insights into barnacle longevity, growth rates, and directional translocation on sea turtles,
with Nathan Robinson, Gail Schofield, John Zardus.
Poster presentation, 38th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Kobe, Japan, 18-23 February 2018.
Abstract, Poster
2017
- Detection and use of seasonally ephemeral fish-cleaning stations by breeding sea turtles using drones and underwater cameras, Contributed talk, 37th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Las Vegas, USA, 15-20 April 2017. Slides
- Studying loggerhead sea turtle cleaning stations using drones and underwater cameras,
Video presentation, 37th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Las Vegas, USA, 15-20 April 2017. Video
2016
- In-water turtle observations generate valuable new insights,
with Gail Schofield.
Article in the State of the World's Sea Turtles (SWOT) magazine, volume 11, March 2016.
Link to the magazine - Photo ID of the loggerhead population of Zakynthos island, Greece: challenges, lessons learnt so far and future directions
Contributed talk, Photo ID Workshop, 36th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Lima, Peru, 29 February-4 March 2016. Slides - In-water behaviour of the loggerhead sea turtle
Video presentation, 36th International Sea Turtle Symposium, Lima, Peru, 29 February-4 March 2016.
Abstract, video - Focal photograph surveys: Foraging resident male interactions and female interactions at fish-cleaning stations,
with Gail Schofield.
Poster presentation, 36th International Sea turtle Symposium, Lima, Peru, 29 February-4 March 2016.
Poster, abstract
2015
- In-water behaviour of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) under the presence of humans (Homo sapiens) in a major Mediterranean nesting site
Poster presentation, 35th International Sea turtle Symposium, Dalaman, Turkey, 18-24 April 2015.
Poster, abstract, supporting video - Time lapse recordings of nesting loggerhead sea turtles in Zakynthos, Greece: A tool for education, research and nesting beach management,
with ARCHELON.
Video presentation, 35th International Sea turtle Symposium, Dalaman, Turkey, 18-24 April 2015.
Abstract, video
2013
- Bahari Karuna-Connecting people through sea turtle conservation in west Africa,
with Neil Davis (presenter), John Flynn, Juliana Baker.
Poster presentation, International Sea turtle Symposium, Baltimore, USA, 5-8 February 2013.
Poster
2012
- Turtles of the world
Article in Expressions magazine, volume 3, issue 6, November-December 2012.
Link to the magazine
