Pabasara Abeywickrama joins the Sequeira Lab as a PhD student to study green turtles

Pabasara Abeywickrama has joined the Sequeira Lab as a PhD student at the Australian National University (ANU), where she was awarded a highly competitive international PhD scholarship. She plans to focus her PhD research on understanding how climate variability and changes in seagrass habitats may influence the distribution and foraging ecology of green turtles (Chelonia mydas). Her first chapter will investigate these patterns in Shark Bay, Western Australia, leveraging the datasets collected through the Gathaagudu Animal Tracking project led by our lab leader A/Prof Ana Sequeira.

Prior to joining our team at ANU, Pabasara received her BSc (First Class Honours) in Zoology from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. After graduating, she worked as a teaching assistant in the Department of Zoology and later as a volunteer research assistant, where she worked on research projects on sea turtles, marine conservation, and microplastic contamination.

Pabasara loves spending time in the field and exploring nature, and has a particular interest in marine animals and conservation.

Congratulations to Pabasara for securing such a great scholarship, and we wish Pabasara the best of luck with her studies!