Assessing coastal artificial light and potential exposure of wildlife at a national scale: the case of marine turtles in Brazil

Colman, Liliana P.; Lara, PH; Bennie, Jonathan; Broderick, Annette C.; Freitas, de; Marcondes, Ana Claudia J.; Witt, Matthew J.; Godley, B. J.

doi:10.1007/s10531-019-01928-z

Cited by 22 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 52 publications

(72 reference statements)

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“…For Maio, the main conservation objectives are to maintain the natural conditions of the coastal ecosystem, to train and involve local people in the sustainable management of their natural resources, and to improve peoples’ well-being through social investment. Sea turtle nesting beaches in other Cabo Verdean islands (Silva et al, 2017; Laloë et al, 2019) and beyond (Godoy & Stockin, 2018; Blackburn et al, 2019; Colman et al, 2020) are increasingly urbanized, illuminated and exploited for tourism. Any future development on Maio will need to consider our findings, and decisions should be based on a multi-criteria decision analysis for nature conservation (Esmail & Geneletti, 2018).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Globally important refuge for the loggerhead sea turtle: Maio Island, Cabo Verde

Patiño-Martínez¹,

Passos²,

Afonso³

et al. 2021

Oryx

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One of the largest nesting colonies of the Vulnerable loggerhead sea turtle Caretta caretta is in Cabo Verde. Here we present the first comprehensive study of loggerhead turtle nesting on the island of Maio in Cabo Verde. During 2016–2019 we monitored 38 km of undeveloped sandy beaches that have minimal artificial lighting and where all nesting on Maio takes place. We counted 4,063 nests in 2016, 5,429 in 2017, 14,364 in 2018 and 7,937 in 2019. The estimated total number of females was 1,016, 1,357, 3,591 and 1,984 in each of these years, respectively. Our findings suggest there are more loggerhead turtles nesting in Cabo Verde than previously estimated, and that this could be the species’ largest nesting subpopulation (followed by Florida, USA and Oman). The inter-annual hatching success (the proportion of eggs producing hatchlings) was 29–38% for the whole island but varied between sites. Our study of 250 clutches showed that flooding affected 38–61% and predation by crabs 40–42%, with hatching success on different beaches in the range of 1–59%. Poaching of eggs was rare (< 2% of clutches), but dogs predated 68.4% of all clutches on the beach nearest the largest human settlement. We evaluated different nest management strategies at multiple sites and estimated productivity of hatchlings (the number of hatchlings that would reach the sea for each management strategy), finding that hatcheries are not always the best option for nest management. As the beaches on Maio are relatively undisturbed, and there is a high abundance and density of turtle nests, the island should be protected as a globally important site for the conservation of the loggerhead turtle, and of coastal biodiversity more broadly.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Globally important refuge for the loggerhead sea turtle: Maio Island, Cabo Verde

Patiño-Martínez¹,

Passos²,

Afonso³

et al. 2021

Oryx

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“…Artificial light pollution is known to influence (i) the on-beach orientation and nest site selection of adult female turtles, (ii) the on-beach orientation and sea finding behavior of hatchling turtles, and (iii) the at-sea dispersal of hatchling turtles. The degree to which species, or populations are exposed to artificial light pollution, and thus its influence as a threatening process, varies across the world with populations nesting at sites closer to areas of urban or industrial development being more exposed (e.g., Colman et al, 2020;Kamrowski et al, 2012Kamrowski et al, , 2014Shimada et al, 2021).…”

Section: Sea-turtlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of artificial light at night in marine ecosystems—A review

Marangoni

Davies

Smyth

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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The globally widespread adoption of Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) began in the mid‐20th century. Yet, it is only in the last decade that a renewed research focus has emerged into its impacts on ecological and biological processes in the marine environment that are guided by natural intensities, moon phase, natural light and dark cycles and daily light spectra alterations. The field has diversified rapidly from one restricted to impacts on a handful of vertebrates, to one in which impacts have been quantified across a broad array of marine and coastal habitats and species. Here, we review the current understanding of ALAN impacts in diverse marine ecosystems. The review presents the current state of knowledge across key marine and coastal ecosystems (sandy and rocky shores, coral reefs and pelagic) and taxa (birds and sea turtles), introducing how ALAN can mask seabird and sea turtle navigation, cause changes in animals predation patterns and failure of coral spawning synchronization, as well as inhibition of zooplankton Diel Vertical Migration. Mitigation measures are recommended, however, while strategies for mitigation were easily identified, barriers to implementation are poorly understood. Finally, we point out knowledge gaps that if addressed would aid in the prediction and mitigation of ALAN impacts in the marine realm.

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“…However, it should be noted that large parts of the Atlantic African coastline remain to be adequately surveyed throughout the region (i.e., Cabinda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola; Table 1), and long-term data for other regions may be available, but have not been assessed to date. At a global scale, the Republic of the Congo likely hosts the fourth largest nonarribada olive ridley documented rookery in the Atlantic, after Gabon (Metcalfe et al, 2015), Brazil (Colman et al, 2020), andFrench Guiana (Abreu-Grobois andPlotkin, 2008;Plot et al, 2012). Nevertheless, while clutch counts are most often used as a proxy of sea turtle population size, it would be more robust, although logistically challenging, to monitor nesting females to obtain demographic parameters for population modelling (Shamblin et al, 2017;Casale and Ceriani, 2020;Shamblin et al, 2021).…”

Section: Nesting Trendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Missing Data in Sea Turtle Population Monitoring: A Bayesian Statistical Framework Accounting for Incomplete Sampling

et al. 2022

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Monitoring how populations respond to sustained conservation measures is essential to detect changes in their population status and determine the effectiveness of any interventions. In the case of sea turtles, their populations are difficult to assess because of their complicated life histories. Ground-derived clutch counts are most often used as an index of population size for sea turtles; however, data are often incomplete with varying sampling intensity within and among sites and seasons. To address these issues, we: (1) develop a Bayesian statistical modelling framework that can be used to account for sampling uncertainties in a robust probabilistic manner within a given site and season; and (2) apply this to a previously unpublished long-term sea turtle dataset (n = 17 years) collated for the Republic of the Congo, which hosts two sympatrically nesting species of sea turtle (leatherback turtle [Dermochelys coriacea] and olive ridley turtle [Lepidochelys olivacea]). The results of this analysis suggest that leatherback turtle nesting levels dropped initially and then settled into quasi-cyclical levels of interannual variability, with an average of 573 (mean, 95% prediction interval: 554–626) clutches laid annually between 2012 and 2017. In contrast, nesting abundance for olive ridley turtles has increased more recently, with an average of 1,087 (mean, 95% prediction interval: 1,057–1,153) clutches laid annually between 2012 and 2017. These findings highlight the regional and global importance of this rookery with the Republic of the Congo, hosting the second largest documented populations of olive ridley and the third largest for leatherback turtles in Central Africa; and the fourth largest non-arribada olive ridley rookery globally. Furthermore, whilst the results show that Congo’s single marine and coastal national park provides protection for over half of sea turtle clutches laid in the country, there is scope for further protection along the coast. Although large parts of the African coastline remain to be adequately monitored, the modelling approach used here will be invaluable to inform future status assessments for sea turtles given that most datasets are temporally and spatially fragmented.

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Assessing coastal artificial light and potential exposure of wildlife at a national scale: the case of marine turtles in Brazil

Cited by 22 publications

References 52 publications

Globally important refuge for the loggerhead sea turtle: Maio Island, Cabo Verde

Globally important refuge for the loggerhead sea turtle: Maio Island, Cabo Verde

Impacts of artificial light at night in marine ecosystems—A review

Missing Data in Sea Turtle Population Monitoring: A Bayesian Statistical Framework Accounting for Incomplete Sampling

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