Important foraging hotspots for loggerhead turtle rookery identified

December 4, 2017

UCF alumna Simona Ceriani today published a new study that finds sea turtles are what they eat - but where they eat may be even more important.

Ceriani, who is a tenured research scientist with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, collaborated with three UCF Department of Biology researchers on the study, published in Scientific Reports.

"Where you eat and what you eat matters for humans and we found that it does, in fact, matter for turtles," Ceriani said. "We found that females who eat in southern areas tend to have more offspring."

During a nine-year period, the scientists examined chemical signatures of more than 700 loggerhead turtles, which nest at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge south of Melbourne. Coupled with GPS tracking, the team was able to map the signatures across the western Atlantic Ocean from the waters off Nova Scotia to the Yucatán.

Florida is one of the major nesting grounds for loggerhead turtles in the United States. The Carr refuge accounts for 14 percent of the loggerhead nests in the northwest Atlantic, which is the largest subpopulation in the world.

The study showed that most Carr female loggerheads do not leave the coastal waters that fall under the U.S. jurisdiction. However, the foraging areas where the refuge nesters migrate from vary from year to year. Turtles spend 99 percent of their time in the water, so tracking their whereabouts can prove difficult. The chemical analysis costs $10 per turtle compared to $2,000 to $5,000 required for individual GPS tracking.

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Critical green turtle habitats identified in Mediterranean - Herp Digest

Date: February 12, 2015-Source: University of Exeter

A new study led by the University of Exeter has identified two major foraging grounds of the Mediterranean green turtle and recommends the creation of a new Marine Protected Area (MPA) to preserve the vulnerable species.

The researchers tracked green turtles from breeding grounds in Cyprus, Turkey, Israel and Syria to provide the most comprehensive set of distribution data ever assembled for the species in the Mediterranean.

The study, published today in the journal Diversity and Distributions, identifies ten foraging grounds, with two major hotspots in Libya accounting for more than half of the turtles which were tracked to conclusive endpoints.

Professor Brendan Godley of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation in Biosciences at the University of Exeter, the paper's senior author, said: "We know where the major nesting grounds are but a robust understanding of where marine turtles go during migration and foraging phases is crucial to the development of effective conservation strategies. Of the two key habitats identified in this study -- the Gulf of Bomba and the Gulf of Sirte -- only the former is currently recognised as a biodiversity hotspot. The protection of both would benefit a high proportion of the adult green turtle population in the Mediterranean."

The species has suffered extreme declines in the past due to heavy overharvesting under British administration during the 20^th century for meat and turtle soup. Additionally, within the region, the magnitude of marine turtle bycatch -- the unwanted fish and marine creatures trapped by commercial fishing -- is considered unsustainable by many conservationists who call for urgent action.

In this latest study, 34 female green turtles were satellite tracked from breeding grounds for a total of 8,521 tracking days between 1998 and 2010.

Dr Kim Stokes, lead author, added: "Although this study has led to a quantum leap in our knowledge of the species in the Mediterranean, there is clearly an urgent need to extend the tracking to some of the other major nesting beaches in Eastern Turkey and Cyprus to ensure we fully map the major migratory corridors and foraging grounds."

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by University of Exeter. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:

1. K. L. Stokes, A. C. Broderick, A. F. Canbolat, O. Candan, W. J. Fuller, F. Glen, Y. Levy, A. F. Rees, G. Rilov, R. T. Snape, I. Stott, D. Tchernov, B. J. Godley. Migratory corridors and foraging hotspots: critical habitats identified for Mediterranean green turtles. Diversity and Distributions, 2015; DOI: 10.1111/ddi.12317

Cite This Page:

University of Exeter. "Critical green turtle habitats identified in Mediterranean." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 February 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150212065208.htm>.