Kyle Oliveira

Kyle is a PhD student taking part in the Maine eDNA project jointly advised by Damian Brady and Nick Record at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. Kyle earned his B.S. in Environmental Science with a minor in Marine Sciences from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During his time at UNC, Kyle researched climate change impacts on the skeletal morphology of the Caribbean reef coral Siderastrea siderea. No stranger to Maine, Kyle partook in a summer REU at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute analyzing temperature change impacts on Atlantic bluefin tuna in the Gulf of Maine and Gulf of St. Lawrence. Kyle’s interests in movement ecology drew him to the species on the move theme of the Maine-eDNA project where he will attempt to use eDNA technology to detect white sharks in the Gulf of Maine and later model their movements in combination with oceanographic properties. He hopes to elucidate the reasoning behind their movements to better understand the species and the ecosystems they inhabit and communicate this to interested stakeholders. When not thinking about sharks, you can find Kyle at your local frozen pond, hockey stick in hand, at the beach wishing he knew how to surf, or in the kitchen cooking up a meal.