Topic: Diary of a Bull Shark – Movement Ecology in the Everglades

Speaker: Will Sample

William Sample is a Ph.D. candidate in the Marine Community and Behavioral Ecology Lab at Florida International University. His current research uses long-term historical datasets and novel methods, like high-resolution accelerometry, to study the movement and behavioral ecology of juvenile bull sharks. Will focuses on the way these sharks may be transporting nutrients across habitat boundaries, how they may be optimizing their movements to save energy and what the long-term implications of different roles they specialize in may be. His research in the Florida Everglades studying the ways sharks move through this crucial ecosystem is important for conservation and informing habitat restoration and management efforts. Will earned a B.S. in Liberal Arts and Sciences from Florida Atlantic University in 2018 and has lived throughout Florida, from Jacksonville to the Keys. He is passionate about community outreach and education, particularly regarding Florida’s natural habitats, and serves as the 2024-2026 lead scientist for ANGARI Foundation’s Coastal Ocean Explorers: Sharks hands-on education program.