Dillys Pouponeau

Who I am

I was raised on Praslin Island, a place of outstanding beauty and biodiversity that birthed me into the nature lover I am today. My passion brought me to many other beautiful islands in the Seychelles, not only to explore but to understand the importance of protecting biodiversity.
Driven to do my part, I pursued a BSc in Environmental Science, specialising in Tropical Biodiversity Conservation, at the University of Seychelles. Since then, I have contributed to several domains in this field, ranging from research, conservation, education, media, and sustainability.
Still very ambitious after working in the field for a few years, I am ready to take the next step as a scientist and develop my skills in data science, scientific publications, and lab work. And to reach these goals, I decided to pursue an MSc in Island Biodiversity and Conservation with the University of Exeter whilst working full time, giving me the opportunity to grow in all these areas.
Other than my scientific background I am also a passionate nature photographer and science filmmaker because no matter how much science is conducted, the need to communicate the findings with the rest of the world/non-scientific community is still critical.
My journey may be a hectic one at times, but I am a firm believer that where there’s a will, there is a way.

Where I work

I am currently working as a full time Research Officer at the Save Our Seas Foundation – D’Arros Research Centre working on several long-term monitoring and research projects including this research project for my part-time MSc degree. The work here on D’Arros and St Joseph consists of mark-recapture studies of juvenile sharks and rays, monitoring of nesting turtles, manta rays and coral reef, acoustic telemetry, mangrove and forest rehabilitation, seabird census and educational programs just to name a few. I also get to pursue my photography and filmmaking career on the job as the official media person in the team.

What I do

My project aims to investigate the foraging patterns of reef manta rays by quantifying prey densities and identifying potential drivers of prey density patterns where manta rays forage around D’Arros island and St Joseph atoll. I do this by collecting plankton samples at different sites (micro locations) around the two islands where manta rays are either present (feeding or cruising) or absent. Back in the lab, the samples are dehydrated and weighed to calculate the biomass of zooplanktons filtered per water volume. Using logistic regression model, I will be able to use the biomass data and reef manta ray behaviour (feeding or not) to estimate the critical prey density threshold. Furthermore, several environmental variables recorded on surveys will be used to identify factors driving prey (zooplankton) densities that triggers feeding by the reef manta rays.