Factors Affecting Strandings of Cold-Stunned Juvenile Kemp's Ridley and Loggerhead Sea Turtles in Long Island, New York

Burke, Vincent J.; Standora, Edward A.; Morreale, Stephen J.

doi:10.2307/1446115

Cited by 33 publications

(23 citation statements)

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“…While sea turtles have some ability to acclimate both temperature tolerance and metabolic rate to cold over an extended period (Moon, MacKenzie & Owens, 1997;Hochscheid, Bentivegna & Speakman, 2004), they cannot tolerate acute cooling, and both species often fall victim to cold-stunning during sudden cold fronts. Cold-stunning events have been reported for over 100 years (see Ogren & McVea, 1981 ;Ehrhart, 1983;Shaver, 1990 ;Burke, Standora & Morreale, 1991), so they are a normal part of the life history of sea turtles -apparently an acceptable price to be paid for the bounties of developing in northern nearshore habitats. Cold-stunned sea turtles tend to float and become immobilized ; winds can then often drive them to shore, resulting in frequent winter turtle strandings in United States coastal waters.…”

Section: Sea Turtlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecology of overwintering among turtles: where turtles overwinter and its consequences

2006

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Turtles are a small taxon that has nevertheless attracted much attention from biologists for centuries. However, a major portion of their life cycle has received relatively little attention until recently - namely what turtles are doing, and how they are doing it, during the winter. In the northern parts of their ranges in North America, turtles may spend more than half of their lives in an overwintering state. In this review, I emphasise the ecological aspects of overwintering among turtles, and consider how overwintering stresses affect the physiology, behaviour, distributions, and life histories of various species. Sea turtles are the only group of turtles that migrate extensively, and can therefore avoid northern winters. Nevertheless, each year a number of turtles, largely juveniles, are killed when trapped by cold fronts before they move to safer waters. Evidently this risk is an acceptable trade-off for the benefits to a population of inhabiting northern developmental habitats during the summer. Terrestrial turtles pass the winter underground, either in burrows that they excavate or that are preformed. These refugia must provide protection against desiccation and lethal freezing levels. Some burrows are extensive (tortoise genus Gopherus), while others are shallow, or the turtles may simply dig into the ground to a safe depth (turtle genus Terrapene). In the latter genus, freeze tolerance may play an adaptive role. Most non-marine aquatic turtles overwinter underwater, although Clemmys (Actinemys) marmorata routinely overwinters on land when it occurs in riverine habitats, Kinosternon subrubrum often overwinters on land, and several others may overwinter terrestrially on occasion, especially in more southern climates. For northern species that overwinter underwater, there are two physiological groupings, those that are anoxia-tolerant and those that are relatively anoxia-intolerant. All species fare well physiologically in water with a high partial pressure of oxygen (PO2). A lack of anoxia tolerance limits the types of habitats that a freshwater turtle may live in, since unlike sea turtles, they cannot travel long distances to hibernate. Hatchlings of some species of turtles spend their first winter in or below the nest cavity, while hatchlings of other species in the same area, including northern areas, emerge in the autumn and presumably hibernate underwater. All hatchlings are relatively anoxia-intolerant, and there are no studies to date of where hatchling turtles that do not overwinter in or below the nest cavity spend their first winter. Equally little is known of the ontogeny of anoxia tolerance, other than that adults of all species are more anoxia-tolerant than their hatchlings, probably because of their better ossified shells, which provide adults with more buffer reserves and a larger site in which to sequester lactate. The northern limits of turtles are most likely determined by reproductive limitations (time for egg-laying, incubation, and hatching) than by the rigors of hibernation. Mortalit...

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Section: Sea Turtlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The ecology of overwintering among turtles: where turtles overwinter and its consequences

2006

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“…Although adults are generally found along the coast of the southeastern United States and Gulf of Mexico, juveniles frequent the northeastern coast of the United States during summer 2,3 . Juveniles that do not leave northern waters in autumn are susceptible to severe hypothermia, or cold‐stunning, as water temperatures rapidly drop 4–12 . Cold‐stunned turtles are frequently found stranded on the beaches of Massachusetts and New York from late November to late December when water temperature drops below 12°C (54°F) 4–6,9 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Juveniles that do not leave northern waters in autumn are susceptible to severe hypothermia, or cold‐stunning, as water temperatures rapidly drop 4–12 . Cold‐stunned turtles are frequently found stranded on the beaches of Massachusetts and New York from late November to late December when water temperature drops below 12°C (54°F) 4–6,9 . Stranded turtles are collected by a network of volunteers and transported to regional rehabilitation centers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scintigraphic and Radiographic Evaluation of Appendicular Skeletal Lesions in Cold‐stunned Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles

Solano¹,

Innis²,

Smith³

et al. 2008

Vet Radiology Ultrasound

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Osteolytic appendicular skeletal lesions in eight-stranded, cold-stunned Kemp's ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) were evaluated using radiography and skeletal scintigraphy. Radiographic studies were performed monthly in most animals. Follow-up scintigraphy was performed 45-120 days after the initial exams in six turtles. Radiographically, lesions slowly progressed from an early osteolytic process contained to either the proximal or distal end of long bones, to a later stage characterized by thickening of the affected bone, sclerosis, and remodeling of the lesion borders. In seven turtles, the initial scintigrams were characterized by at least one focus of abnormal radiopharmaceutical uptake that correlated with a lytic site noted in radiographs. In five turtles, scintigraphic lesions were characterized by asymmetric radiopharmaceutical uptake rather than by increased intensity of uptake. Scintigraphic studies obtained more than 4 months after the appearance of clinical and radiographic signs had minimal, if any, abnormal radiopharmaceutical uptake, despite the persistence of abnormal radiographic findings. Skeletal scintigraphy is an effective method for more precisely determining if and when these animals can be returned to the wild. Animals were released if normal radiopharmaceutical uptake was seen during initial examination, or if decreased uptake was noted between serial examinations. In four of the turtles, resolution of abnormal scintigraphic findings permitted an objective decision to discontinue antibiotic and antifungal therapy. Seven of the eight turtles were released after correlation of the clinical signs with the imaging findings. Radiographs, however, are still needed to facilitate the correct identification of lesions with scintigraphy.

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“…These animals wash up on north-facing beaches of LIS Burke et al 1991). Historically, the sea turtle most affected by cold stunning is the Kemp's ridley.…”

Section: Marine Reptilesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long Island Sound

2014

Springer Series on Environmental Management

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Factors Affecting Strandings of Cold-Stunned Juvenile Kemp's Ridley and Loggerhead Sea Turtles in Long Island, New York

Cited by 33 publications

References 0 publications

The ecology of overwintering among turtles: where turtles overwinter and its consequences

The ecology of overwintering among turtles: where turtles overwinter and its consequences

Scintigraphic and Radiographic Evaluation of Appendicular Skeletal Lesions in Cold‐stunned Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles

Long Island Sound

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