Meet the UF Croc Docs: Women leading wildlife conservation in the Everglades

A preliminary test using a thermal camera to detect snakes successfully detected an invasive rainbow boa in the Everglades.. Photo UF Croc Docs — A preliminary test using a thermal camera to detect snakes successfully detected an invasive Brazilian rainbow boa at the UF/IFAS Fort Lauderdale Research and Education Center. Photo credit: UF Croc Docs

Highlights

Women make up less than 30% of all scientists globally, a reminder of how persistent gender gaps remain in STEM fields, according to UNESCO.
At the University of Florida’s Croc Docs Wildlife Research Lab , women represent half of the team, signaling a shift in conservation science as long‑standing stereotypes give way to a new generation of researchers, leaders and mentors.
This International Women and Girls in Science Day, on Feb. 11, meet the women behind the work, whose research and dedication are shaping the future of conservation in the Everglades and beyond.

In chest-deep waters, on midnight airboat runs and along remote roads, women scientists at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) carry out the kind of conservation work most people never see.

They capture alligators, track invasive pythons, stop the spread of destructive species and protect some of Florida’s most fragile ecosystems.

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Drone identifies a tagged python part of the telemetry project. Photo credit: UF/IFAS Croc Docs — Drone identifies a tagged python part of the telemetry project.
Photo credit: UF/IFAS Croc Docs

Women scientists of Croc Docs — (L-R) Duwa Ansari research lab manager on an airboat during an American crocodile capture survey. Alexis Pupo is with an American alligator during nighttime alligator capture surveys. Photos by Croc Docs. Taylor Francis with her hawk part of invasive detection program. Photo credit by Taylor Francis. Patricia Gonzalez with a Burmese Python. Jen Brueggen getting photos and filming the American crocodiles in Everglades National Park. Photo by Jen Brueggen.

a. Bryna Daykin on an airboat during an American crocodile capture survey b. Photo credit: UF/IFAS Croc Docs — Bryna Daykin on an airboat during an American crocodile capture survey
Photo by UF/IFAS Croc Docs

photo collage of six female scientists who belong to the UF Croc Docs - a wildlife conservation lab. — (L-R) Gabriella de la Fe with a handful of hatchling American crocodiles during a night survey in the Florida Everglades. Melissa Miller with a captured Burmese Python for the radio tracking program. Photos by UF Croc Docs. a. Michelle Bassis perched atop of the airboat listening to the python radio tracker signal to locate a tagged Burmese python in the dense sawgrass habitat of the Everglades. Photo by Jen Brueggen. Maria Camila Ojeda Rojas holding a Burmese Python for the radio tracking program. Venetia Briggs-Gonzalez, Belize, Venetia conducting crocodile capture surveys in Florida; holding a secured American crocodile. Photo credit by UF/IFAS Croc Docs.

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By Lourdes Mederos, rodiguezl@ufl.edu

ABOUT UF/IFAS
The mission of the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) is to develop knowledge relevant to agricultural, human and natural resources and to make that knowledge available to sustain and enhance the quality of human life. With more than a dozen research facilities, 67 county Extension offices, and award-winning students and faculty in the UF College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UF/IFAS brings science-based solutions to the state’s agricultural and natural resources industries, and all Florida residents.

ifas.ufl.edu | @UF_IFAS

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