Journal article
Identification of distinct movement patterns in Pacific leatherback turtle populations influenced by ocean conditions
Ecological applications, v 22(3), pp 735-747
Apr 2012
PMID: 22645807
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Interactions with fisheries are believed to be a major cause of mortality for adult leatherback turtles (
Dermochelys coriacea
), which is of particular concern in the Pacific Ocean, where they have been rapidly declining. In order to identify where these interactions are occurring and how they may be reduced, it is essential first to understand the movements and behavior of leatherback turtles. There are two regional nesting populations in the East Pacific (EP) and West Pacific (WP), comprising multiple nesting sites. We synthesized tracking data from the two populations and compared their movement patterns. A switching state-space model was applied to 135 Argos satellite tracks to account for observation error, and to distinguish between migratory and area-restricted search behaviors. The tracking data, from the largest leatherback data set ever assembled, indicated that there was a high degree of spatial segregation between EP and WP leatherbacks. Area-restricted search behavior mainly occurred in the southeast Pacific for the EP leatherbacks, whereas the WP leatherbacks had several different search areas in the California Current, central North Pacific, South China Sea, off eastern Indonesia, and off southeastern Australia. We also extracted remotely sensed oceanographic data and applied a generalized linear mixed model to determine if leatherbacks exhibited different behavior in relation to environmental variables. For the WP population, the probability of area-restricted search behavior was positively correlated with chlorophyll-
a
concentration. This response was less strong in the EP population, but these turtles had a higher probability of search behavior where there was greater Ekman upwelling, which may increase the transport of nutrients and consequently prey availability. These divergent responses to oceanographic conditions have implications for leatherback vulnerability to fisheries interactions and to the effects of climate change. The occurrence of leatherback turtles within both coastal and pelagic areas means they have a high risk of exposure to many different fisheries, which may be very distant from their nesting sites. The EP leatherbacks have more limited foraging grounds than the WP leatherbacks, which could make them more susceptible to any temperature or prey changes that occur in response to climate change.
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Details
- Title
- Identification of distinct movement patterns in Pacific leatherback turtle populations influenced by ocean conditions
- Creators
- Helen Bailey - Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, Maryland 20688 USA NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC/Environmental Research Division, 1352 Lighthouse Avenue, Pacific Grove, California 93950 USAScott R Benson - NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC/Protected Resources Division, 3333 N. Torrey Pines Court, La Jolla, California 92037 USAGeorge L Shillinger - Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Boulevard, Pacific Grove, California 93950 USASteven J Bograd - NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC/Environmental Research Division, 1352 Lighthouse Avenue, Pacific Grove, California 93950 USAPeter H Dutton - NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC/Protected Resources Division, 3333 N. Torrey Pines Court, La Jolla, California 92037 USAScott A Eckert - Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network, Duke University Marine Laboratory, Beaufort, North Carolina 28516 USAStephen J Morreale - Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 USAFrank V Paladino - Department of Biology, Indiana-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Indiana 46805 USATomoharu Eguchi - NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC/Protected Resources Division, 3333 N. Torrey Pines Court, La Jolla, California 92037 USADavid G Foley - NOAA/NMFS/SWFSC/Environmental Research Division, 1352 Lighthouse Avenue, Pacific Grove, California 93950 USA Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 98622 USABarbara A Block - Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Boulevard, Pacific Grove, California 93950 USARotney Piedra - Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas, Ministerio de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones Apartado 473-3000, Heredia, Costa RicaCreusa Hitipeuw - World Wildlife Fund for Nature - Indonesia, Jl. Mega Kuningan Lot 8-9/A9, Mega Kuningan Jakarta, IndonesiaRicardo F Tapilatu - Marine Laboratory, The State University of Papua (UNIPA), Manokwari , Papua Barat Province, IndonesiaJames R Spotila - Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 USA
- Publication Details
- Ecological applications, v 22(3), pp 735-747
- Publisher
- Ecological Society of America
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000303312000001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84860248598
- Other Identifier
- 991014877823704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Ecology
- Environmental Sciences