ECR Spotlight is a series of interviews with early-career authors from a selection of papers published in Journal of Experimental Biology and aims to promote not only the diversity of early-career researchers (ECRs) working in experimental biology during our centenary year but also the huge variety of animals and physiological systems that are essential for the ‘comparative’ approach. Elizabeth Atchoi is an author on ‘ Ontogenetic exposure to light influences seabird vulnerability to light pollution’, published in JEB. Elizabeth is a PhD student in the lab of Manuela Juliano and Joël Bried at Institute of Marine Sciences - OKEANOS, University of the Azores, Portugal, and Airam Rodríguez, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Spain. She is currently researching the impacts of light pollution on seabird ecology, from its ultimate impact at the population level to proximate causes such as how light pollution interferes with visual sensory systems.
Elizabeth Atchoi
Describe your scientific journey and your current research focus
I have always been fascinated with biology, and there was never a question in my mind that I would chase it as far as I could. I was fortunate to be given the opportunities to do just so and am now just about to finish my PhD investigating the impacts of light pollution on seabird ecology. I did my Master's thesis on the distributional range of kelp (Laminaria ochroleuca) in the Azores with Dr Fernando Tempera, where I was first introduced to the wonders of GIS systems and remote operated technology. Afterwards, I spent a few years doing internships, where I fell in love with field biology, doing monitoring on remote locations for seabirds, sea turtles and fish. Then, I spent a year in Turkey collecting data on cetaceans' behavior and its relationship with anthropogenic impacts such as the presence of marine vessels. Finally, in 2006, I received a grant to be an assistant seabird researcher for a monitoring program in the Azores. Even though I had worked with seabirds before, it wasn't until the Azores, and the exposure to Cory's shearwater juveniles grounded by light pollution, that I found ‘my topic’. Light pollution is an exciting field of research, migratory seabirds are incredibly complex, strong and inspiring, the field work is demanding and rugged, perching in rocky islets washed with ocean mist. I was hooked. I was fortunate for the opportunity my PIs gave me, and I won a grant to conduct my PhD project. Working with light pollution expert Dr Airam Rodríguez, seabird expert Dr Joël Bried, oceanography expert Dr Manuela Juliano, and a final addition to the team, visual sensory system expert Dr Mindaugas Mitkus, has been a real privilege, and we are currently wrapping up investigations into seabird behavior towards light and the possible relationship between oceanographic variables and fluctuations in the numbers of grounded birds due to light pollution.
Which part of this research project was the most rewarding/challenging?
The field work was incredibly intense, usually lasting the entire night from sundown until nearly sunrise, during an entire summer. It involved assembling all the gear, grabbing the chicks to and from the nests, testing them and patiently waiting for each test period to run its course, cleaning the arena and material between each take. There were nights when I thought, maybe we have enough data already! Fortunately, it was all worth it. Our backdrop was the starriest skies and we got to see several events of shooting stars, our soundtrack was hundreds of Cory's shearwaters calling in flight, and even the drive back home was a quiet experience in mystical fog. And, despite being at the beginning of my pregnancy and feeling seasick with, well everything, the only thing that did not bother me was any of the strong smells Cory's chicks produced! In the end I was tired but fulfilled that I had gotten through my first self-led field work and we obtained solid data from it.
Cory's shearwater Calonectris borealis chicks inside the experimental arena, treated with red light (left) and blue light (right).
What do you think experimental biology will look like 50 years from now?
I believe that experimental biology will incorporate a mix of traditional and new methods, with a greater emphasis on technology and innovation. Specifically, I would like to see the application of smaller and more powerful sensors, diverse and widely available remote sensing tools, and advanced AI systems. These tools will allow researchers to collect larger and more varied datasets, access information we are currently precluded from, expand our data analysis, all the while leaving minimal traces on the environment and minimizing disturbing the subjects we study.
If you had unlimited funding, what question in your research field would you most like to address?
I would tag all (as many as we would get) seabird fledglings just before they leave their nests. This would allow us to clarify mechanisms of attraction to light polluted areas, and to identify the most vulnerable individuals, safer paths, the range of the effect caused by the light sources and even survival after fledging.
What's next for you?
As a PhD candidate, under the privileged mentorship of my supervisors and well supported by my research center OKEANOS University of Azores, I am working towards completing my doctoral degree in the coming year. My immediate focus will be on completing the data analysis and scientific articles that will comprise my thesis on the impact of light pollution on seabird populations. In addition to this, I am the lead in a pilot research project currently starting that aims to establish an autonomous monitoring network for remote seabird colonies in the Azores, utilizing RFID and PIT tag technology. In the near future, my focus will be on implementing the autonomous monitoring network and applying it to continuous investigation into the impacts of light pollution, for example, by investigating population- and individual-level differences between colonies that are exposed to light pollution and those that are not.
My ultimate goal is to contribute towards the increase of knowledge and awareness about our anthropogenic function in modern ecosystems and how we can achieve a successful rewilding of the natural world.
Elizabeth Atchoi's contact details: Universidade dos Açores Centro I&D Okeanos, Rua Professor Doutor Frederico Machado 4, 9900-138 Horta, Portugal.
E-mail: [email protected]
