High fidelity of sea turtles to their foraging grounds revealed by satellite tracking and capture-mark-recapture: New insights for the establishment of key marine conservation areas

Siegwalt, Flora; Benhamou, Simon; Girondot, Marc; Jeantet, Lorène; Martin, Jordan; Bonola, Marc; Lelong, Pierre; Grand, Clément; Chambault, Philippine; Benhalilou, Abdelwahab; Murgale, Céline; Maillet, Thomas; Andreani, Lucas; Campistron, Guilhem; Jacaria, François; Hiélard, Gaëlle; Arqué, Alexandre; Etienne, Denis; Gresser, Julie; Régis, Sidney; Lecerf, Nicolas; Frouin, Cédric; Lefèbvre, Fabien; Aubert, Nathalie; Vedie, Fabien; Barnérias, Cyrille; Thieulle, Laurent; Guimera, Christelle; Bouaziz, Myriam; Pinson, Adrien; Flora, Frédéric; George, Francis; Eggenspieler, Joffrey; Woignier, Thierry; Allénou, Jean-Pierre; Louis-Jean, Laurent; Chanteur, Bénédicte; Beranger, Christelle; Crillon, Jessica; Brador, Aude; Habold, Caroline; Maho, Yvon Le; Robin, Jean‐Patrice; Chevallier, Damien

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108742

Cited by 29 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Turtles may die for a number of reasons. They may suffer predation (e.g., Heithaus et al, 2007), may be killed in fisheries (Fossette et al, 2014) or by pollution such as plastics (e.g., Siegwalt et al, 2020). Unusual clusters of possible mortality might be cause for concern.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do Argos satellite tags stop relaying data?

Hays

Laloë

Rattray

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Satellite tracking of animals is very widespread across a range of marine, freshwater, and terrestrial taxa. Despite the high cost of tags and the advantages of long deployments, the reasons why tracking data from tags stop being received are rarely considered, but possibilities include shedding of the tag, damage to the tag (e.g., the aerial), biofouling, battery exhaustion, or animal mortality. We show how information relayed via satellite tags can be used to assess why tracking data stop being received. As a case study to illustrate general approaches that are broadly applicable across taxa, we examined data from Fastloc‐GPS Argos tags deployed between 2012 and 2019 on 78 sea turtles of two species, the green turtle ( Chelonia mydas ) and the hawksbill turtle ( Eretmochelys imbricata ). Tags transmitted for a mean of 267 days ( SD = 113 days, range: 26–687 days, median = 251 days). In 68 of 78 (87%) cases, battery failure was implicated as the reason why tracking data stopped being received. Some biofouling of the saltwater switches, which synchronize transmissions with surfacing, was evident in a few tags but never appeared to be the reason that data reception ceased. Objectively assessing why tags fail will direct improvements to tag design, setup, and deployment regardless of the study taxa. Assessing why satellite tags stop transmitting will also inform on the fate of tagged animals, for example, whether they are alive or dead at the end of the study, which may allow improved estimates of survival rates.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why do Argos satellite tags stop relaying data?

Hays

Laloë

Rattray

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Turtle F returned to the same location in both 2017 and 2019 and remained there for 345 days in 2017, implying strong site fidelity to this area. High levels of fidelity to foraging grounds is common for both adult and juvenile green turtles (Broderick et al, 2007;Siegwalt et al, 2020).…”

Section: Resident Foraging Areasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inter-Nesting Movements, Migratory Pathways, and Resident Foraging Areas of Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia mydas) Satellite-Tagged in Southwest Florida

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Globally, sea turtle research and conservation efforts are underway to identify important high-use areas where these imperiled individuals may be resident for weeks to months to years. In the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, recent telemetry studies highlighted post-nesting foraging sites for federally endangered green turtles (Chelonia mydas) around the Florida Keys. In order to delineate additional areas that may serve as inter-nesting, migratory, and foraging hotspots for reproductively active females nesting in peninsular southwest Florida, we satellite-tagged 14 green turtles that nested at two sites along the southeast Gulf of Mexico coastline between 2017 and 2019: Sanibel and Keewaydin Islands. Prior to this study, green turtles nesting in southwest Florida had not previously been tracked and their movements were unknown. We used switching state space modeling to show that an area off Cape Sable (Everglades), Florida Bay, and the Marquesas Keys are important foraging areas that support individuals that nest on southwest Florida mainland beaches. Turtles were tracked for 39–383 days, migrated for a mean of 4 days, and arrived at their respective foraging grounds in the months of July through September. Turtles remained resident in their respective foraging sites until tags failed, typically after several months, where they established mean home ranges (50% kernel density estimate) of 296 km2. Centroid locations for turtles at common foraging sites were 1.2–36.5 km apart. The area off southwest Florida Everglades appears to be a hotspot for these turtles during both inter-nesting and foraging; this location was also used by turtles that were previously satellite tagged in the Dry Tortugas after nesting. Further evaluation of this important habitat is warranted. Understanding where and when imperiled yet recovering green turtles forage and remain resident is key information for designing surveys of foraging resources and developing additional protection strategies intended to enhance population recovery trajectories.

show abstract

“…Juvenile turtles throughout the world have been shown to exhibit multi-year fidelity to foraging areas (González Carman et al, 2016;Metz et al, 2020;Siegwalt et al, 2020), which further highlights their importance in the conservation and recovery of these species. In Australia, green turtles and loggerheads remained in foraging habitats for 17 and 23 years, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in Species Composition, Size and Fitness of Two Multi-Species Sea Turtle Assemblages Using Different Neritic Habitats

Lamont

Johnson

2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The neritic environment is rich in resources and as such plays a crucial role as foraging habitat for multi-species marine assemblages, including sea turtles. However, this habitat also experiences a wide array of anthropogenic threats. To prioritize conservation funds, targeting areas that support multi-species assemblages is ideal. This is particularly important in the Gulf of Mexico where restoration actions are currently ongoing following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. To better understand these areas in the Gulf of Mexico, we characterized two multi-species aggregations of sea turtles captured in different neritic habitats. We described species composition and size classes of turtles, and calculated body condition index for 642 individuals of three species captured from 2011 to 2019: 13.6% loggerheads (Caretta caretta), 44.9% Kemp’s ridleys (Lepidochelys kempii) and 41.4% green turtles (Chelonia mydas). Species composition differed between the two sites with more loggerheads captured in seagrass and a greater proportion of green turtles captured in sand bottom. Turtles in sand bottom were smaller and weighed less than those captured in seagrass. Although small and large turtles were captured at both sites, the proportions differed between sites. Body condition index of green turtles was lower in sand habitat than seagrass habitat; there was no difference for Kemp’s ridleys or loggerheads. In general, smaller green turtles had a higher body condition index than larger green turtles. We have identified another habitat type used by juvenile sea turtle species in the northern Gulf of Mexico. In addition, we highlight the importance of habitat selection by immature turtles recruiting from the oceanic to the neritic environment, particularly for green turtles.

show abstract

High fidelity of sea turtles to their foraging grounds revealed by satellite tracking and capture-mark-recapture: New insights for the establishment of key marine conservation areas

Cited by 29 publications

References 58 publications

Why do Argos satellite tags stop relaying data?

Why do Argos satellite tags stop relaying data?

Inter-Nesting Movements, Migratory Pathways, and Resident Foraging Areas of Green Sea Turtles (Chelonia mydas) Satellite-Tagged in Southwest Florida

Variation in Species Composition, Size and Fitness of Two Multi-Species Sea Turtle Assemblages Using Different Neritic Habitats

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About