The unique strengths of qualitative research, through in-depth inquiry and identification of unexpected themes and linkages, is essential to our growing understanding of COVID-19′s impacts on the social world and its intersection with sustainability science. However, many challenges-physical, psychological, and ethical in nature-face qualitative researchers during the pandemic, as social distancing and travel restrictions prevent in-person field work. In this paper, we outline the essential contributions of qualitative study to sustainability science, discuss current challenges, and in turn, provide recommendations for researchers.

Main text word count (from Introduction to end of Discussion): 7832 Figures: 8 Tables: 7 conditions. Knowledge of these parameters will improve our ability to interpret stranding events around the globe.

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Sea turtle stranding events provide an opportunity to study drivers of mortality, but causes of strandings are poorly understood. A general turtle carcass oceanographic drift model was developed to estimate likely mortality locations from coastal sea turtle stranding records. Key model advancements include realistic direct wind forcing on carcasses, temperature driven carcass decomposition and the development of mortality location predictions for individual strandings. We applied this model to 2009-2014 stranding events within the Chesapeake Bay, Virginia. Predicted origin of vessel strike strandings were compared to commercial vessel data, and potential hazardous turtle-vessel interactions were identified in the southeastern Bay and James River. Commercial fishing activity of gear types with known sea turtle interactions were compared to predicted mortality locations for stranded turtles with suggested fisheries-induced mortality. Probable mortality locations for these strandings varied seasonally, with two distinct areas in the southwest and southeast portions of the lower Bay. Spatial overlap was noted between potential mortality locations and gillnet, seine, pot, and pound net fisheries, providing important information for focusing future research on mitigating conflict between sea turtles and human activities. Our ability to quantitatively assess spatial and temporal overlap between sea turtle mortality and human uses of the habitat were hindered by the low resolution of human use datasets, especially those for recreational vessel and commercial fishing gear distributions. This study highlights the importance of addressing these data gaps and provides a meaningful conservation tool that can be applied to stranding data of sea turtles and other marine megafauna worldwide.

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The media can be key in informing individuals around topics not easily observable, such as remote environmental issues and wildlife. Sea turtles are enigmatic animals that attract public attention, but they have faced severe population declines worldwide. Assessing how the news reports on sea turtle conservation is critical in evaluating how a concerned layperson may perceive threats affecting these animals and can provide insights on how experts can better engage with the media. We collected online articles about sea turtles from 2003 to 2019, recording the frequency by which various threats were mentioned as hazardous to sea turtles, the types of solutions noted in response to these threats, and common quoted messengers. We found that the media disproportionately reports on the threats of pollution and resource use. Importantly, this may not align with scientific consensus of top conservation concerns for these animals and can be problematic if it leads to a misinformed public.

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