Molecular ecology of marine turtles: New approaches and future directions

Lee, Patricia L. M.

doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2007.12.021

Cited by 75 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 183 publications

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“…Although polyandry has been documented across marine turtle species (reviewed in Lee [55]), and was recorded in 30 per cent of females in this study, the observation that males only sired offspring with a single female at the Alagadi rookery (figure 1) is surprising and is in contrast to observations of polygynous behaviour at other green turtle breeding grounds [20]. In aggregate breeding systems with no parental care, regardless of whether or not males defend females or resources, multiple mating opportunities for both males and females are expected [44].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turtle mating patterns buffer against disruptive effects of climate change

et al. 2012

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For organisms with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), skewed offspring sex ratios are common. However, climate warming poses the unique threat of producing extreme sex ratio biases that could ultimately lead to population extinctions. In marine turtles, highly female-skewed hatchling sex ratios already occur and predicted increases in global temperatures are expected to exacerbate this trend, unless species can adapt. However, it is not known whether offspring sex ratios persist into adulthood, or whether variation in male mating success intensifies the impact of a shortage of males on effective population size. Here, we use parentage analysis to show that in a rookery of the endangered green turtle (Chelonia mydas), despite an offspring sex ratio of 95 per cent females, there were at least 1.4 reproductive males to every breeding female. Our results suggest that male reproductive intervals may be shorter than the 2 -4 years typical for females, and/or that males move between aggregations of receptive females, an inference supported by our satellite tracking, which shows that male turtles may visit multiple rookeries. We suggest that male mating patterns have the potential to buffer the disruptive effects of climate change on marine turtle populations, many of which are already seriously threatened.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turtle mating patterns buffer against disruptive effects of climate change

et al. 2012

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“…While North Atlantic and Mediterranean loggerhead turtles are a relatively well-studied systems in population genetics and connectivity research Encalada et al 1998;Laurent et al 1998;Bowen et al 2004Bowen et al , 2005Carreras et al 2006Carreras et al , 2007Lee 2008), key gaps in sampling still remain. The second largest nesting aggregation of the globally endangered loggerhead sea turtle (IUCN 2007) in the Atlantic Ocean is found at the Cape Verde Islands, which is also the only major rookery in Western Africa for this species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population structure and conservation implications for the loggerhead sea turtle of the Cape Verde Islands

et al. 2010

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The Cape Verde Islands harbour the second largest nesting aggregation of the globally endangered loggerhead sea turtle in the Atlantic. To characterize the unknown genetic structure, connectivity, and demographic history of this population, we sequenced a segment of the mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region (380 bp, n = 186) and genotyped 12 microsatellite loci (n = 128) in females nesting at three islands of Cape Verde. No genetic differentiation in either haplotype or allele frequencies was found among the islands (mtDNA F ST = 0.001, P [ 0.02; nDNA F ST = 0.001, P [ 0.126). However, population pairwise comparisons of the mtDNA data revealed significant differences between Cape Verde and all previously sequenced Atlantic and Mediterranean rookeries (F ST = 0.745; P \ 0.000). Results of a mixed stock analysis of mtDNA data from 10 published oceanic feeding grounds showed that feeding grounds of the Madeira, Azores, and the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, and Gimnesies, Pitiü ses, and Andalusia, in the Mediterranean sea, are feeding grounds used by turtles born in Cape Verde, but that about 43% (±19%) of Cape Verde juveniles disperse to unknown areas. In a subset of samples (n = 145) we evaluated the utility of a longer segment (*760 bp) amplified by recently designed mtDNA control region primers for assessing the genetic structure of Atlantic loggerhead turtles. The analysis of the longer

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“…see studies listed in Bowen and Karl, 2007;Lee, 2008). The globally endangered loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is one such species, carrying out some of the greatest known migrations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in spatial distribution of juvenile loggerhead turtles in the eastern Atlantic and western Mediterranean Sea

Monzón‐Argüello

Rico

Carreras

et al. 2009

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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a b s t r a c t Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) originating from the Western Atlantic carry out one of the largest marine migrations, reaching the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. It has been proposed that this transatlantic journey is simply a consequence of drifting, with the lack of a target destination and a passive dispersal with oceanic currents. This predicts that the size of the source populations and geographic distance to the feeding grounds should play important roles in defining stock composition in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. Under this scenario, near pelagic stocks would have no genetic structure, and would be composed of similar cohorts from regional rookeries. To address this question, we sampled individuals from one important eastern Atlantic feeding ground, the Canary Islands, and sequenced a fragment of the mitochondrial DNA control region. We compared the composition of this feeding stock with published data of other proximal areas: Madeira, Azores and Andalusia. "Rookery-centric" mixed stock analysis showed that the distribution of loggerhead sea turtles along the eastern Atlantic feeding grounds was in latitudinal accordance to their natal origin: loggerhead turtles from Florida were significantly more abundant in Azores (30%) than in Canary Islands (13%), while those from Mexico had a poor representation in Azores (13%) but were more prevalent in Canary Islands (34%). Also, genetic stability in temporal and size analyses of the Canary Island aggregation was found, showing a long period of residency. These results indicate a nonrandom distribution of loggerhead juveniles in oceanic foraging grounds. We discuss possible explanations to this latitudinal variation..

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Molecular ecology of marine turtles: New approaches and future directions

Cited by 75 publications

References 183 publications

Turtle mating patterns buffer against disruptive effects of climate change

Turtle mating patterns buffer against disruptive effects of climate change

Population structure and conservation implications for the loggerhead sea turtle of the Cape Verde Islands

Variation in spatial distribution of juvenile loggerhead turtles in the eastern Atlantic and western Mediterranean Sea

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