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Jessica Pate: Drones, Collaborations, Dream Boats, and Emails from Manta Rays (#81)

Jessica Pate
photo by: Bryant Turffs

If you’ve listened to episode 2 of the podcast, you’ve already heard Jessica’s story and the genesis of her research. Today, we start right where we left off in that episode. Jessica shares a few of her many exciting projects including identifying and describing a third species of manta, tagging the mantas, and future projects with guitarfish. We chat about how the manta project has evolved from bowriding to droning, how it’s grown from a side project to full time endeavor, and how Jessica’s work was featured in Nat Geo.

Connect with Jessica: website| email| instagram| facebook

Quick Links
Marine Megafauna Foundation
Marine Megafauna Foundation- Florida Manta Project
Giant Oceanic Manta Ray
Reef Manta Ray
National Geographic Article
Disney Conservation Fund
Nick Farmer
Guitar Fish
Telemetry
Acoustic Telemetry Tagging
Florida Atlantic Coast Telemetry Network
SeaMester
Sea Cat Tours- Dominica
TowBoat US

Show Notes

0:29 Jessica begins by sharing an update about what she discovered after conducting a study on angler and manta ray interactions in Florida.

4:00 New species of mantas! Jessica talks about some research that suggests there is another species of manta ray in the western Atlantic and Caribbean which is genetically different from Giant Mantas and Reef Mantas. She is working on formally describing this new species to a taxonomic paper.

4:48 What physical characteristics differentiate the species of mantas?

6:23 Jessica’ss curiosity about mantas turned into a side project and eventually led her to become the only scientist in Florida studying these animals. She explains some of her ongoing research projects and what it is like working with mantas in the field.

11:37 Using drones for finding mantas has been a game changer in Jessica’s research. 

13:44 Jessica talks about her recent publication about using species distribution modeling to predict where manta rays can be found at different times of year.

16:22 Why is there a misconception that mantas are dangerous?

16:47 Jessica talks about finding funding to start her own research work.

17:30 What has been Jessica’s biggest challenge with her research so far?

18:18 Jessica explains how satellite tagging works and how she uses it in the context of her manta ray research.

20:56 What are the differences between satellite and acoustic tags?

25:36 What is Jessica’s favorite sea creature?

26:10 Jessica discusses more about a future guitar fish project that she is excited to get started on.

29:08 What does the ocean mean to Jessica?

30:03 Jessica answers the big blank check question.

33:37 Jessica and Kara both share some great field stories of their not-so-great boat grounding experiences.

38:58 Jessica’s conservation ask for the audience.

43:35 Connect with Jessica!

44:22 Jessica shares that she is creating interactive marine lesson plans for students as well as working on publishing a children’s book.

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