Recent Nicholas School graduate Eric Treml has received a Fuller Fellowship from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in recognition of his promising work in conservation science.

As a Fuller Fellow, Treml will receive a $50,000 stipend and $15,000 in research funds for two years, as well as access to WWF’s global network of scientists and conservationists. 

Treml received a PhD in environmental science and policy from the Nicholas School in September 2006. He worked as a post-doctoral research associate in the school’s Marine Geospatial Ecology Laboratory, headed by Dr. Patrick Halpin, Gabel Associate Professor of the Practice of Geospatial Analysis.

The Fuller Fellowship program is part of WWF’s Kathryn Fuller Science for Nature Fund, which was launched in 2006 to honor former WWF president and CEO Kathryn S. Fuller.

Treml was one of two young conservation scientists awarded a fellowship through the program this year. 

Treml’s PhD dissertation at the Nicholas School, “Modeling Marine Larval Dispersal: A Graph-theoretic Approach for Evaluating Coral Reef Connectivity,” forms the foundation of the work he will do as a Fuller Fellow.  Working with WWF and research mentors at the University of Queensland in Australia, he will use genetic analysis and spatial modeling to quantify the connectedness of marine protected areas and underwater national parks in the famed Coral Triangle of Southeast Asia. 

Surrounded by Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, the Coral Triangle encompasses the Sulu and Sulawesi seas and is home to the planet’s greatest diversity of coral reef plants and animals, including one of the largest varieties of reef fish and more than 450 species of coral (compared to only 60 in the entire Caribbean). The area supports commercial and community fisheries, and its coral reefs and sea turtle nesting beaches make it a magnet for tourists. In recent years, however, overfishing, habitat degradation, and destructive fishing methods including the use of cyanide and dynamite have destroyed large sections of coral and depleted fish populations.

Treml’s research will help conservationists and policymakers better understand where marine protected areas should be placed in this region and how to connect them so wildlife can successfully breed and maintain healthy populations.