Female nesting behaviour affects hatchling survival and sex ratio in the loggerhead sea turtle: implications for conservation programmes

Marco, Adolfo; Abella, Elena; Martins, Samir; López, O. González; Patiño-Martínez, Juan

doi:10.1080/03949370.2017.1330291

Cited by 30 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Oviparous reptiles may also be able to increase their reproductive fitness by altering the depth at which they lay their eggs [47]. Some reptile species, such as the Highlands Forest-skink (Anepischetosia maccoyi), lay their eggs on the substrate surface [22], while the monitor lizard Varanus panoptes deposits its eggs as deep as 3.6 m, such as in [48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The effect of nest depth on nest characteristics is not well understood. Research suggests that nest depth may be correlated with mean nest temperature [47,[49][50][51], temperature fluctuations [41], range of temperatures [48], and maximum temperature [52]. Both exceptionally shallow and deep nests can experience temperature stress that can prevent egg development [49].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both exceptionally shallow and deep nests can experience temperature stress that can prevent egg development [49]. Nest depth may be correlated with other development factors, such as incubation time [47,49,53] and offspring sex ratios [47,51]. Nest depth may also be correlated with environmental characteristics within the nest, such as moisture levels [48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nest depth may also be correlated with environmental characteristics within the nest, such as moisture levels [48]. Conflicting evidence suggests that nest depth may [47,54] or may not [55,56] affect hatching success, defined as the percentage of eggs that incubate successfully and hatch. However, because extreme temperatures lower hatching success [18] and nest depth may impact nest temperature maximums, minimums, and fluctuation magnitudes [41,48,49,52], nest depth may impact offspring survival by mitigating extreme daily temperatures or temperature fluctuations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Nest Depth and Site Choice in Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change on an Oviparous Reptile

et al. 2020

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Climate change is likely to have strong impacts on oviparous animals with minimal parental care, because nest temperature can impact egg development, sex, and survival, especially in the absence of mitigation via parental care. Nesting females may compensate for increasing temperatures by altering how, when, and where they nest. We examined the factors determining nest depth and site choice as well as the effects that nest depth and location have on nest temperature and hatching success in the diamondback terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin). We found that nest depth was not correlated with nesting female size, egg characteristics, or daily temperatures. Nest temperatures and hatching success were correlated with different environmental and nest characteristics between 2004, a cool and wet year, and 2005, a hot and dry year. Females selected nests with lower southern overstory vegetation in 2005. These results suggest that nest depth and location can play an important yet varying role in determining nest temperature and hatching success in more extreme warm and dry environmental conditions and, therefore, may mitigate the impacts of climate change on oviparous reptiles. However, we found minimal evidence that turtles choose nest locations and depths that maximize offspring survival based on short-term environmental cues.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The Role of Nest Depth and Site Choice in Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change on an Oviparous Reptile

et al. 2020

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“…A seleção de um local adequado para desova tem uma importância crucial para o sucesso reprodutivo de C. caretta (Wood e Bjorndal, 2000;Serafini et al 2009;Marco et al 2018), visto que o período de incubação dos ovos é um dos períodos mais críticos na vida dessa espécie (Matsuzawa et al 2002). As fêmeas de tartarugas marinhas procuram ambientes com fatores físicos que proporcionem abrigo seguro e calor suficiente para o sucesso da incubação e eclosão dos ovos, geralmente na mesma localização onde nasceram (Ferreira Júnior, 2009a;Carreras et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

Effect of sand granulometry on the egg hatchling success of the sea turtle Caretta caretta

Tacchi

Quirino

Ferreira

et al. 2019

NBC

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The environmental characteristics of nesting sites of sea turtles may directly interfere with the egg hatchling success. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the factors that affect the success of hatchling in the nests of the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta). Data from 37 nests of C. caretta from the coast of Mata de São João, Bahia, northeastern Brazil, were obtained from TAMAR, Sauípe station. Samples of sand were collected in each nest to determine the granulometry. A significant negative relationship was found between the stillborn rate and the fine sand ratio (r2 = 0.119; p = 0.036), indicating that a larger fraction of fine sand had a positive effect on nest hatchling success. The egg laying date also had a significant influence on the rate of stillbirths (r2 = 0.163; p = 0.013), with a trend towards a higher stillbirth rate, the later the laying date of the eggs. There is indication that the transfer of eggs to sites with more favorable characteristics may be considered as a potential alternative to increase the hatchling success rate of C. caretta eggs.

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Quantifying the impacts of future sea level rise on nesting sea turtles in the southeastern United States

Lyons

Holle

Caffrey

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

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Sandy beaches, a necessary habitat for nesting sea turtles, are increasingly under threat as they become squeezed between human infrastructure and shorelines that are changing as a result of rising sea levels. Forecasting where shifting sandy beaches will be obstructed and how that directly impacts coastal nesting species is necessary for successful conservation and management. Predicting changes to coastal nesting areas is difficult because of a lack of consensus on the physical attributes used by females in nesting site choice. In this study, we leveraged long‐term data sets of nesting localities for two sea turtle species, loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, and green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas , within four barrier island National Seashores in the southeastern United States to predict future nesting beach area based on where these species currently nest in relation to mean high water. We predicted the future location of nesting areas based on a sea level rise scenario for 2100 and quantified how impervious surfaces will inhibit future beach movement, which will impact both the total available nesting area and the percentage of nesting area predicted to flood following a hurricane‐related storm surge. Contrary to our expectations, those barrier islands with the greatest levels of human infrastructure were not projected to experience the greatest percentage of sea turtle nesting area loss due to sea level rise or storm surge events. Notably, loss of nesting beach areas will not have equal impacts across the four Seashores; the Seashore projected to have the least amount of total nesting area lost and percentage nesting area lost currently has the highest nesting densities of our two study species, suggesting that even low levels of beach loss could have substantial impacts on future nesting densities and disproportionate impacts on the population growth of these species. Our novel method of estimating current and future nesting beach area can be broadly applied to studies requiring a bounded area that encompasses the part of a beach used by nesting coastal species and will be useful in comparing future global nesting densities and population trajectories under projected future sea level rise and storm surge activity.

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Female nesting behaviour affects hatchling survival and sex ratio in the loggerhead sea turtle: implications for conservation programmes

Cited by 30 publications

References 47 publications

The Role of Nest Depth and Site Choice in Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change on an Oviparous Reptile

The Role of Nest Depth and Site Choice in Mitigating the Effects of Climate Change on an Oviparous Reptile

Effect of sand granulometry on the egg hatchling success of the sea turtle Caretta caretta

Quantifying the impacts of future sea level rise on nesting sea turtles in the southeastern United States

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