Projected redistribution of sea turtle foraging areas reveals important sites for conservation

Chatzimentor, Anastasia; Almpanidou, Vasiliki; Doxa, Aggeliki; Dimitriadis, Charalampos; Mazaris, Antonios D.

doi:10.1016/j.ecochg.2021.100038

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…The western Mediterranean has the highest biodiversity in the basin with high concentrations of endangered, threatened, or vulnerable species (Coll et al, 2010). The importance of western Mediterranean areas has been highlighted in many studies, for example, for vulnerable habitats (De Juan & Lleonart, 2010), fish biodiversity (Mouillot et al, 2011), marine mammals (Coll et al, 2010), and sea turtles (Chatzimentor et al, 2021). The importance of the Aegean Sea, part of the eastern Mediterranean Sea was highlighted for biodiversity conservation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

4D marine conservation networks: Combining 3D prioritization of present and future biodiversity with climatic refugia

Doxa

Almpanidou

Katsanevakis

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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The marine realm is inherently three-dimensional, with marine biodiversity distribution varying greatly, not only across latitudinal and longitudinal gradients, but also with depth (Rex et al., 2005;Vassallo et al., 2020). One of the main challenges for effective conservation is to find ways of including this 3D organization of the biota into systematic conservation planning (Levin et al., 2018). Indeed, some recent studies have suggested the incorporation of this third dimension of the ocean (i.e., depth) to inform the prioritization of conser-

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

4D marine conservation networks: Combining 3D prioritization of present and future biodiversity with climatic refugia

Doxa

Almpanidou

Katsanevakis

et al. 2022

Global Change Biology

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“…BOX 2 Ensemble niche models applied to determine the suitability and extent of important Caretta caretta foraging areas (Almpanidou et al, 2021;Chatzimentor et al, 2021) A climatic niche modeling framework has been recently applied to spatially delineate key foraging habitats for adult (Almpanidou et al, 2021) and juvenile (Chatzimentor et al, 2021) loggerheads in the Mediterranean basin. Satellite tracking data for more than 150 individuals, derived from the literature, were georeferenced and digitalized.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, tracking data include information on individual behaviours, which can be accounted for in species distribution models (Chambault et al, 2021). Ecological modelling approaches based on locations derived from tracking studies and climatic datasets have already been used successfully to generate maps of suitable foraging grounds for adult and juvenile loggerheads in the Mediterranean (Almpanidou et al, 2021;Chatzimentor et al, 2021). Whereas ecological niche approaches based on a combination of different models have been shown to provide more robust results (Araújo and New, 2007), single-model approaches can also be applied for the assessment of D1C5.…”

Section: Indicator Measurement and Data Requirementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a common approach for assessing the conservation status of marine turtle species within the european marine strategy framework directive

Girard

Monsinjon³

et al. 2022

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Environmental policies, including the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD), generally rely on the measurement of indicators to assess the good environmental status (GES) and ensure the protection of marine ecosystems. However, depending on available scientific knowledge and monitoring programs in place, quantitative GES assessments are not always feasible. This is specifically the case for marine turtle species, which are listed under the Biodiversity Descriptor of the MSFD. Relying on an expert consultation, the goal of this study was to develop indicators and a common assessment approach to be employed by European Union Member States to evaluate the status of marine turtle populations in the frame of the MSFD. A dedicated international expert group was created to explore and test potential assessment approaches, in coherence with other environmental policies (i.e. Habitats Directive, OSPAR and Barcelona Conventions). Following a series of workshops, the group provided recommendations for the GES assessment of marine turtles. In particular, indicators and assessment methods were defined, setting a solid basis for future MSFD assessments. Although knowledge gaps remain, data requirements identified in this study will guide future data collection initiatives and inform monitoring programs implemented by EU Member States. Overall this study highlights the value of international collaboration for the conservation of vulnerable species, such as marine turtles.

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“…We acknowledge that the analysis of loggerhead turtle distribution implemented in this study did not account for the interannual environmental variability. Other approaches such as ecological niche and spatial distribution modeling (Melo-Merino et al, 2020;Smith et al, 2020;Chatzimentor et al, 2021;Zampollo et al, 2022) should be enhanced to further investigate the distribution of this species in the area in response to environmental variables (i.e., sea surface temperatures, chlorophyll-a concentration, distance to seamounts, bathymetry, etc. ), in order to identify mechanisms and variability in habitat utilization, and to predict future distribution patterns.…”

Section: Movement Patterns Of Sea Turtlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thanks to many technological advances in satellite telemetry, our knowledge of loggerhead turtles' spatial patterns has considerably improved (Casale et al, 2018), and key oceanic and neritic areas for sea turtles have been identified in the Algerian Sea, the Sicilian Strait, the Western and Central Ionian Sea, the Aeolian Archipelago, the North Adriatic, Southeast Turkey, and Egypt (Bentivegna, 2002;Margaritoulis and Demetropoulos, 2003;Zbinden et al, 2008;Schofield et al, 2010;Zbinden et al, 2011;Hays et al, 2014;Blasi et al, 2016;Mingozzi et al, 2016;Blasi and Mattei, 2017;Casale et al, 2018). Furthermore, the Tyrrhenian Sea (Western Mediterranean) has recently been recognized as an important foraging and overwintering area for Mediterranean loggerhead turtles (Luschi et al, 2018;Chimienti et al, 2020;Chatzimentor et al, 2021). In these studies, turtles were tracked while moving in the oceanic waters for extended periods, often close to seamounts and volcanic islands (Fiori et al, 2016) or in the proximity of fishing areas (Blasi et al, 2016;Blasi and Mattei, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ocean highways in the Western Mediterranean: Which are the areas with increased exposure to maritime traffic for loggerhead turtles?

et al. 2022

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Many marine megafauna taxa are tied to the sea surface for breathing which makes them vulnerable to vessel collisions. Sea turtles have developed efficient mechanisms to reduce surface time for breathing to a few seconds, but they can extend their surface periods to rest or to rewarm after diving into deep and colder waters. However, knowledge of collision occurrences is limited to data of turtles stranded along the coastline worldwide, whereas events occurring offshore go likely underestimated due to the sinking of carcasses. Here we performed a spatially explicit assessment to identify, for the first time, oceanic areas of higher exposure for sea turtles from maritime traffic in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Western Mediterranean. Satellite-tracking data were used to estimate utilization distributions of loggerhead turtles using Brownian bridge kernel density estimation. Maritime traffic density maps based on Automatic Identification System (AIS) data were extracted from open-access data layers, provided by the European Maritime Safety Agency, summarized, and used for the exposure analysis. Turtle occurrences were also investigated in response to vessel densities and seasonal patterns by fitting a generalized additive model to the data. Our results demonstrated that loggerhead turtles are potentially exposed to maritime traffic across the entire basin, especially in the easternmost part. The exposure varies among spring/summer and autumn/winter months. Highest turtle occurrences were found in regions primarily subjected to cargo, tanker, and passenger transportation. This study represents the first-ever effort to characterize the exposure of oceanic loggerhead turtles to maritime traffic and highlights oceanic areas of higher exposure where research and conservation efforts should be directed to understand the effective impact of this stressor on the species.

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Projected redistribution of sea turtle foraging areas reveals important sites for conservation

Cited by 12 publications

References 65 publications

4D marine conservation networks: Combining 3D prioritization of present and future biodiversity with climatic refugia

4D marine conservation networks: Combining 3D prioritization of present and future biodiversity with climatic refugia

Toward a common approach for assessing the conservation status of marine turtle species within the european marine strategy framework directive

Ocean highways in the Western Mediterranean: Which are the areas with increased exposure to maritime traffic for loggerhead turtles?

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