Diet of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles,<i>Lepidochelys olivacea,</i>in the Waters of Sergipe, Brazil

Colman, Liliana P.; Sampaio, Cláudio L. S.; Weber, Marilda I.; Castilhos, Jaqueline C.

doi:10.2744/ccb-1061.1

Cited by 35 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Leatherback turtles, which are obligate gelatinous zooplanktivores (Wallace et al, 2015), forage in vast open-ocean habitats off the coast of Ecuador, Peru and Chile (Shillinger et al, 2008). Olive ridley turtles, which are opportunistic omnivores (Colman et al, 2014;Behera et al, 2015), do not appear to migrate to a specific foraging area but instead wander nomadically in search of food (Plotkin et al, 1995). Consequently, olive ridley turtles have been recorded inhabiting both oceanic and coastal waters depending on inter-annual patterns in food availability (Plotkin, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assortative epibiosis of leatherback, olive ridley and green sea turtles in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

et al. 2016

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Sea turtles host a diverse array of epibionts, yet it is not well understood what factors influence epibiont community composition. To test whether epibiont communities of sea turtles are influenced by the hosts’ nesting or foraging habitats, we characterized the epibiota of leatherback, olive ridley and green turtles nesting at a single location on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. We also compared the epibiota of these turtles to conspecific populations nesting elsewhere in the East Pacific. If epibiont communities are influenced by nesting habitats, we predicted that sympatrically nesting turtles would have comparable epibiont taxa. Alternatively, if epibiont communities are influenced by foraging habitats, we predicted the diversity of epibiont taxa should reflect the type and diversity of the hosts’ foraging habitats. We identified 18 epibiont taxa from 18 leatherback, 19 olive ridley and six green turtles. Epibiont diversity was low on leatherbacks (four taxa), but higher for olive ridley and green turtles (12 and nine epibiont taxa respectively). The epibiont communities of olive ridley and green turtles were not statistically different, but both were different from leatherbacks. In addition, conspecific sea turtles from other nesting locations hosted more similar epibiont communities than sympatrically nesting, non-conspecifics. We conclude that epibiont diversity of nesting sea turtles is partially linked to the diversity of their foraging habitats. We also conclude that the surface properties of the skin and carapace of these turtles may contribute to the uniqueness of leatherback turtle epibiont communities and the similarities between olive ridley and green turtle epibiont communities.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assortative epibiosis of leatherback, olive ridley and green sea turtles in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

et al. 2016

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“…For many species, predator feeding information is often derived from sampling stomach contents (i.e., stomach content data). Stomach content analysis is ubiquitously used in studies of fish diets, as well as for seabirds (Montalti and Ruben Coria 1993), jellyfish (Barz and Hirche 2007;Jaspers et al 2015), sea turtles (Colman et al 2014;Williams et al 2014), and marine mammals (Fernandez et al 2014;Matley et al 2015). Analysis of stomach content data collected involves two distinct components: (i) measuring total prey amounts in the stomach (total stomach contents' mass or number; Elliott and Persson 1978) and (ii) calculating the fraction of total prey that consists of individual prey types (diet fractions).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel method to estimate prey contributions to predator diets

Moriarty

Essington

Ward

2017

Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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Stomach content data are frequently used to characterize predator feeding habits, often by describing the proportional contribution by mass or number of each prey type (diet fractions). These data pose several statistical challenges for analysis and estimation that have hindered our ability to create quantitative diet fraction estimates from stomach content data. To address these challenges, we developed a novel, likelihood-based mixture model to quantitatively estimate diet fractions. Simulation testing indicated that estimated diet fractions from the mixture model were more precise than those estimated either from a (stomach mass) weighted mean or the sample mean and were more accurate than a sample mean. Additionally, we applied the mixture model, a weighted mean, and sample mean to stomach content data for multiple types of predators. For three of four of these data sets, the mixture model demonstrated higher precision than and similar accuracy to a weighted mean and similar precision and better accuracy than a sample mean. The mixture model represents an important step in advancing statistical methods to address the challenges of stomach content data. Résumé :Des données sur le contenu stomacal sont fréquemment utilisées pour caractériser les habitudes d'alimentation de prédateurs, bien souvent en décrivant la proportion de la contribution, en poids ou en nombre, de chaque type de proies (fractions du régime alimentaire). Ces données posent plusieurs problèmes statistiques pour l'analyse et l'estimation qui ont limité la capacité d'établir des estimations quantitatives des fractions du régime alimentaire à partir de données sur le contenu stomacal. Dans le but de régler ces problèmes, nous avons mis au point un nouveau modèle de mélange reposant sur la probabilité pour estimer les fractions du régime alimentaire de manière quantitative. Des essais de simulation indiquent que les fractions du régime alimentaire estimées à l'aide du modèle de mélange sont plus précises que les fractions estimées à partir d'une moyenne pondérée (de la masse stomacale) ou de la moyenne de l'échantillon, et sont plus exactes qu'une moyenne d'échantillon. Nous avons en outre appliqué le modèle de mélange, une moyenne pondérée et une moyenne d'échantillon aux données sur le contenu stomacal pour différents types de prédateurs. Pour trois ensembles de données sur quatre, le modèle de mélange présente une plus grande précision et une exactitude semblable à une moyenne pondérée, et une précision semblable et une plus grande exactitude qu'une moyenne d'échantillon. Le modèle de mélange représente une importante étape dans l'établissement de méthodes statistiques permettant de surmonter les difficultés que posent les données sur le contenu stomacal. [Traduit par la Rédaction]

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“…Lepidochelys olivacea is an opportunistic omnivore with a widely varied diet. Studies of stranded turtles report a high degree of durophagy and piscivory (Behera et al, ; Colman et al, ; Di Beneditto, De Moura & Siciliano, ; Spring & Gwyther, ; Wildermann & Barrios‐Garrido, ). Two studies of freshly killed turtles in Mexico corroborated these findings, but also revealed a high degree of gelativory (mostly salps, but also other tunicates) as well as other soft‐bodied prey including sipunculid worms and bryozoans (Casas‐Andreu & Gómez‐Aguirre, ; Montenegro Silva et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond trophic morphology: stable isotopes reveal ubiquitous versatility in marine turtle trophic ecology

2019

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The idea that interspecific variation in trophic morphology among closely related species effectively permits resource partitioning has driven research on ecological radiation since Darwin first described variation in beak morphology among Geospiza.Marine turtles comprise an ecological radiation in which interspecific differences in trophic morphology have similarly been implicated as a pathway to ecopartition the marine realm, in both extant and extinct species. Because marine turtles are charismatic flagship species of conservation concern, their trophic ecology has been studied intensively using stable isotope analyses to gain insights into habitat use and diet, principally to inform conservation management. This legion of studies provides an unparalleled opportunity to examine ecological partitioning across numerous hierarchical levels that heretofore has not been applied to any other ecological radiation. Our contribution aims to provide a quantitative analysis of interspecific variation and a comprehensive review of intraspecific variation in trophic ecology across different hierarchical levels marshalling insights about realised trophic ecology derived from stable isotopes.We reviewed 113 stable isotope studies, mostly involving single species, and conducted a meta-analysis of data from adults to elucidate differences in trophic ecology among species. Our study reveals a more intricate hierarchy of ecopartitioning by marine turtles than previously recognised based on trophic morphology and dietary analyses. We found strong statistical support for interspecific partitioning, as well as a continuum of intraspecific trophic sub-specialisation in most species across several hierarchical levels. This ubiquity of trophic specialisation across many hierarchical levels exposes a far more complex view of trophic ecology and resource-axis exploitation than suggested by species diversity alone. Not only do species segregate along many widely understood axes such as body size, macrohabitat, and trophic morphology but the general pattern revealed by isotopic studies is one of microhabitat segregation and variation in foraging behaviour within species, within populations, and among individuals.These findings are highly relevant to conservation management because they imply ecological non-exchangeability, which introduces a new dimension beyond that of genetic stocks which drives current conservation planning.Perhaps the most remarkable finding from our data synthesis is that four of six marine turtle species forage across several trophic levels. This pattern is unlike that seen in other large marine predators, which forage at a single trophic level according to stable isotopes. This finding affirms suggestions that marine turtles are robust sentinels of ocean health and likely stabilise marine food webs. This insight has broader significance for studies of marine food webs and trophic ecology of large marine predators.Beyond insights concerning marine turtle ecology and conservation, our findings also have broader impli...

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Diet of Olive Ridley Sea Turtles,Lepidochelys olivacea,in the Waters of Sergipe, Brazil

Cited by 35 publications

References 26 publications

Assortative epibiosis of leatherback, olive ridley and green sea turtles in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

Assortative epibiosis of leatherback, olive ridley and green sea turtles in the Eastern Tropical Pacific

A novel method to estimate prey contributions to predator diets

Beyond trophic morphology: stable isotopes reveal ubiquitous versatility in marine turtle trophic ecology

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