Fidelity and over-wintering of sea turtles
- 24 April 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by The Royal Society in Proceedings Of The Royal Society B-Biological Sciences
- Vol. 274 (1617), 1533-1539
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.0211
Abstract
While fidelity to breeding sites is well demonstrated in marine turtles, emerging knowledge of migratory routes and key foraging sites is of limited conservation value unless levels of fidelity can be established. We tracked green (Chelonia mydas, n=10) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta, n=10) turtles during their post-nesting migration from the island of Cyprus to their foraging grounds. After intervals of 2-5 years, five of these females were recaptured at the nesting beach and tracked for a second migration. All five used highly similar migratory routes to return to the same foraging and over-wintering areas. None of the females visited other foraging habitats over the study period (units lasted on average 305 days; maximum, 1356 days), moving only to deeper waters during the winter months where they demonstrated extremely long resting dives of up to 10.2h (the longest breath-holding dive recorded for a marine vertebrate). High levels of fidelity and the relatively discrete nature of the home ranges demonstrate that protection of key migratory pathways, foraging and over-wintering sites can serve as an important tool for the future conservation of marine turtles.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Only some like it hot — quantifying the environmental niche of the loggerhead sea turtleDiversity and Distributions, 2007
- Pelagic longlines: A threat to sea turtles in the Equatorial Eastern AtlanticBiological Conservation, 2006
- The ecology of overwintering among turtles: where turtles overwinter and its consequencesBiological Reviews, 2006
- First records of dive durations for a hibernating sea turtleBiology Letters, 2005
- Identification of high‐use habitat and threats to leatherback sea turtles in northern waters: new directions for conservationEcology Letters, 2005
- Natal homing in juvenile loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta)Molecular Ecology, 2004
- Understanding impacts of fisheries bycatch on marine megafaunaTrends in Ecology & Evolution, 2004
- Incidental catch of the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta off the Balearic Islands (western Mediterranean)Biological Conservation, 2004
- ASSESSMENT OF ARGOS LOCATION ACCURACY FROM SATELLITE TAGS DEPLOYED ON CAPTIVE GRAY SEALSMarine Mammal Science, 2002
- Migration of green (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (caretta caretta) turtles to and from eastern Australian rookeriesWildlife Research, 1992