Begum Uzun

I’m Begüm, a marine biologist and a population geneticist, from Istanbul, Turkey. Marine life has influenced me a lot since my childhood and I have been very inquisitive about marine biology since the beginning of my intellectual awareness. I have just got my Ph.D. in the Department of Marine Biology at Istanbul University.

My aim was to focus on studies about marine mammal genetics and combine both ecology and genetic basis for marine biology studies. I have been working in the Marine Biology Laboratory since 2013 and investigating the genetic structure of the bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), and harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in the Black Sea and plan conservation strategies for the species. Since the dolphins are the top predators in the seas, conserving them means conserving the seas/oceans. If you follow the dolphins through the Turkish Straits System, they will take you to the Black Sea for sure.