Effects of sand type on hatch, emergence, and locomotor performance in loggerhead turtle hatchlings

Saito, Tomomi; Wada, Maoko; Fujimoto, Ryohei; Kobayashi, Shohei; Kumazawa, Yoshinori

doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2018.10.008

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…This may provide insight into why swimming e ciency changed over time and provide a real-time comparison of the energetic cost of swimming between treatment types. This study's results are in contrast with a recent publications by Saito et al (2019) and Stewart et al, (2019), which reported that hatchlings from ne grain sizes have stronger swimming ability and tness than hatchlings from coarse grain sizes. This can be explained by the tendency for the walls of nest chambers constructed in sand consisting of large particles grain sizes collapse more easily, making it more di cult for hatchlings to dig out from the nest (Mortimer, 1990) and hinder group emergence (Saito et al, 2019).…”

Section: Swimming Performancecontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, neither clutch nor sand type was shown to in uence the self-righting time of hatchlings (Table 3). However, in the previous study by Saito et al (2019) and Stewart et al (2019), hatchlings incubated in coarse sand are poor self-righters with lower self-righting propensity than hatchlings incubated in the ne sand. From both studies, it is proved that the loggerhead and green turtle hatchlings that emerging from coarse sand are poor self-righters.…”

Section: Self-righting Timementioning

confidence: 74%

“…Although SCL, BT, RFFTL, and SI were similar across sand types, the SCW of hatchlings from ne sand were slightly larger in size than hatchlings from coarse sand ( Table 2). This might be due to cooler nest temperatures and longer incubation periods in nests constructed in ne sand (Saito et al, 2019) which provide more time for hatchlings to convert yolk into the tissue before hatching to develop into larger hatchlings (Booth and Astill, 2001;Booth, 2006Booth, , 2017. To study this relation is important to consider that nest temperatures might in uence the hatchlings' body sizes (Gyuris, 2000) since nests with cooler temperature appear to produce larger hatchlings (Ischer et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Female green sea turtles may nest in a wide range of sand types from ne sand to coarse sand due to changes in the physical characteristics of coastal nesting beaches (Kelly et al, 2017). Due to the energetic cost hatchlings face when digging out of the nest chamber, sand grain type may in uence hatchlings locomotion performance during post emergence, dispersal crawling and swimming activities (Rusli et al, 2016;Saito et al, 2019). Nest substrate has been attributed to in uence hatchling tness considering how much hatchlings may struggle to escape the nest chamber, in uences the amount of energy reserves used by the hatchlings during emergence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies highlighted female turtles nest site preferences correlated with various environmental factors such as distance from the high-tide line (Lopez-Castro et al, 2004;Zavaleta-Lizarraga & Morales-Mavil, 2013), beach elevation (Zare et al, 2012), vegetation (Wang andCheng, 1999;Turkozan et al, 2011), beach slope (Horrocks and Scott, 1991;Wood and Bjorndal, 2000;Cuevas et al, 2010), moisture (Bustard and Greenham, 1968;Yalcin-Ozdilek et al, 2008), and sand particle size (Mortimer, 1990;Grain et al, 1995). Saito et al (2019) discusses how coarse and ne sand can in uence hatch, emergence success, and locomotion performance of loggerhead hatchlings. The rst attempt in assessing the energetic cost to turtle hatchlings during nest escape was conducted by Rusli (2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Sand Types on the Early Swimming Performance of Green Turtle Hatchlings

Suhaimi

Rusli

Booth

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The selection of the nest site is a critical factor whereby female turtles may choose to nest at the site that minimizes energy expenditure of hatchlings and time spent to construct the nest. Nest substrate such as grain size is hypothesized to influence hatchling fitness by affecting the amount of energy reserves used by the hatchlings during emergence. Throughout Malaysia more than half a million green turtle hatchlings are released from hatcheries annually, however the question of whether this practice is producing high-quality hatchlings remains unanswered. It is crucial to hatchery management to identify which types of sand are most suitable for egg incubation and beneficial for hatchlings during nest emergence. We measured the influence of sand types on hatchlings fitness in terms of self-righting ability and swimming performance which emerged from the coarse and fine grained sand. Ten nests which had reach 45 days of incubation duration were selected as the developing embryos would be robust enough to be transported from the nesting to the laboratory for further incubation. Eggs from each clutch were split and allowed to continuing incubating in two different experimental conditions, fine and coarse grain. After hatched, the morphological characteristics and self-righting ability of hatchlings were measured then placed inside the glass aquarium to test the swimming performance for 18 hours. Results revealed that sand types only influenced the straight carapace width (SCW) of hatchlings but had no effect on their swimming. Cooler nest temperatures and longer incubation periods in nests constructed in fine sand caused the hatchlings to have larger straight carapace width than hatchlings from coarse sand. We suggest that the relocation of eggs in the late incubation period within Chagar Hutang beach is fine. Hence, we concluded that green turtle hatchlings emerging from nests in either fine or coarse grain sands of Chagar Hutang beach did not have a significant impact on their swimming performance.

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Section: Swimming Performancecontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Self-righting Timementioning

confidence: 74%