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Aaliyah D. Green Masters Student

As a kid growing up in southern NJ, my favorite hobby was going to the pond behind my house and catching turtles, frogs, grasshoppers, and anything else I could get my hands on. My fascination with critters followed me to Rutgers University, where I received a B.S. in animal sciences with a minor in natural resources management in 2004. A summer internship at the Philadelphia Zoo in 2002 introduced me to two of my great passions: herps and environmental education. While at the zoo, I took part in a diamondback terrapin capture and release program at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor , NJ . From then on, I knew I wanted to study turtles.

I came to SREL in the summer of 2004 as an REU student, when I completed a project on southern toad anti-predator behavior. I'm currently working on a master's thesis investigating mercury contamination in turtles from the Asian food trade. My wide range of research interests includes chelonian life history and behavior, herp conservation, maternal and trophic transfer of contaminants, and biological and evolutionary consequences of habitat contamination.