Terrestrial basking sea turtles are responding to spatio-temporal sea surface temperature patterns

Houtan, Kyle S. Van; Halley, John M.; Marks, Wendy

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0744

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Changes in the eastern Mediterranean SST show ã 5% annual increase over the period 1990 to 2014 (Van Houtan et al 2015). In the case of an increase in frequency of cold winter conditions, the Marettimo population would manifest an increase in skipping years with an overall reduction in reproductive output, while the population may not be negatively affected by SST changes if the present trend is confirmed.…”

Section: Forecasting the Impacts Of Ocean Warmingmentioning

confidence: 84%

Forecasting ocean warming impacts on seabird demography: a case study on the European storm petrel

Soldatini

Albores‐Barajas

Massa

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Bottom-up climatic forcing has been shown to be influential for a variety of marine taxa, but evidence on seabird populations is scarce. Seasonal variation in environmental conditions can have an indirect effect on subsequent reproduction, which, given the longevity and single-brooding of seabirds, may affect population dynamics. Our study focuses on linking the effect of oceanographic conditions (from 1991 to 2013) to the fecundity and consequently population growth rate of the Mediterranean subspecies of the European storm petrel Hydrobates pelagicus melitensis. In this study, we examined 23 yr of > 5400 capture-mark−recaptures (CMR) and modelled the probability of skipping reproduction as a function of oceanographic variables using CMR models. We demonstrate that a decrease in sea surface temperature in the pre-breeding period negatively influences skipping propensity, and therefore hypothesize that this behaviour would have significant influence on population abundance over time. For this reason, we analysed population growth as a function of skipping probability as affected by oceanographic conditions. We used stochastic demographic models to forecast the fate of the population, and evaluated contrasted environmental condition scenarios. As a result, we found that a decrease in frequency of cold winter events would probably reduce skipping propensity, with a positive effect on the population as a whole.

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Section: Forecasting the Impacts Of Ocean Warmingmentioning

confidence: 84%

Forecasting ocean warming impacts on seabird demography: a case study on the European storm petrel

Soldatini

Albores‐Barajas

Massa

et al. 2016

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…Resolving this gap in the spatial population structure of hawksbills is important for understanding how anthropogenic and climate indices together impact the dynamics and conservation status of the species (Van Houtan and Halley ; Van Houtan et al. ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While it is known that juvenile and adult hawksbill sea turtles inhabit coral reefs, mangrove estuaries, and other hardbottom habitats (Meylan 1988;Bjorndal and Bolten 2010;Gaos et al 2012a), little evidence exists documenting the first years of development (e.g., Putman et al 2014). Resolving this gap in the spatial population structure of hawksbills is important for understanding how anthropogenic and climate indices together impact the dynamics and conservation status of the species (Van Houtan and Halley 2011;Van Houtan et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The developmental biogeography of hawksbill sea turtles in the North Pacific

Houtan

Francke

Alessi

et al. 2016

Ecology and Evolution

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High seas oceanic ecosystems are considered important habitat for juvenile sea turtles, yet much remains cryptic about this important life‐history period. Recent progress on climate and fishery impacts in these so‐called lost years is promising, but the developmental biogeography of hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) has not been widely described in the Pacific Ocean. This knowledge gap limits the effectiveness of conservation management for this globally endangered species. We address this with 30 years of stranding observations, 20 years of bycatch records, and recent simulations of natal dispersal trajectories in the Hawaiian Archipelago. We synthesize the analyses of these data in the context of direct empirical observations, anecdotal sightings, and historical commercial harvests from the insular Pacific. We find hawksbills 0–4 years of age, measuring 8–34 cm straight carapace length, are found predominantly in the coastal pelagic waters of Hawaii. Unlike other species, we find no direct evidence of a prolonged presence in oceanic habitats, yet satellite tracks of passive drifters (simulating natal dispersal) and our small sample sizes suggest that an oceanic phase for hawksbills cannot be dismissed. Importantly, despite over 600 million hooks deployed and nearly 6000 turtle interactions, longline fisheries have never recorded a single hawksbill take. We address whether the patterns we observe are due to population size and gear selectivity. Although most sea turtle species demonstrate clear patterns of oceanic development, hawksbills in the North Pacific may by contrast occupy a variety of ecosystems including coastal pelagic waters and shallow reefs in remote atolls. This focuses attention on hazards in these ecosystems – entanglement and ingestion of marine debris – and perhaps away from longline bycatch and decadal climate regimes that affect sea turtle development in oceanic regions.

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“…Future studies may address relevant sub-annual physiological processes (such as climate e.g. [52]), and make comparisons to skeletal growth marks. From an evolutionary perspective, why hawksbills have the most massive carapace keratin deposits of all sea turtle species also deserves exploration.…”

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confidence: 99%

Time in tortoiseshell: a bomb radiocarbon-validated chronology in sea turtle scutes

et al. 2016

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Some of the most basic questions of sea turtle life history are also the most elusive. Many uncertainties surround lifespan, growth rates, maturity and spatial structure, yet these are critical factors in assessing population status. Here we examine the keratinized hard tissues of the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) carapace and use bomb radiocarbon dating to estimate growth and maturity. Scutes have an established dietary record, yet the large keratin deposits of hawksbills evoke a reliable chronology. We sectioned, polished and imaged posterior marginal scutes from 36 individual hawksbills representing all life stages, several Pacific populations and spanning eight decades. We counted the apparent growth lines, microsampled along growth contours and calibrated D 14 C values to reference coral series. We fit von Bertalanffy growth function (VBGF) models to the results, producing a range of age estimates for each turtle. We find Hawaii hawksbills deposit eight growth lines annually (range 5-14), with model ensembles producing a somatic growth parameter (k) of 0.13 (range 0.1-0.2) and first breeding at 29 years (range 23-36). Recent bomb radiocarbon values also suggest declining trophic status. Together, our results may reflect long-term changes in the benthic community structure of Hawaii reefs, and possibly shed light on the critical population status for Hawaii hawksbills.

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Terrestrial basking sea turtles are responding to spatio-temporal sea surface temperature patterns

Cited by 16 publications

References 15 publications

Forecasting ocean warming impacts on seabird demography: a case study on the European storm petrel

Forecasting ocean warming impacts on seabird demography: a case study on the European storm petrel

The developmental biogeography of hawksbill sea turtles in the North Pacific

Time in tortoiseshell: a bomb radiocarbon-validated chronology in sea turtle scutes

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