Journal article
On the dispersal of leatherback turtle hatchlings from Mesoamerican nesting beaches
Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences, v 279(1737), pp 2391-2395
22 Jun 2012
PMID: 22378803
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
So little is known about the early life history of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) from hatchling to adulthood that this period has been termed the 'lost years'. For critically endangered eastern Pacific leatherback populations, continued and rapid declines underscore the urgent need to develop conservation strategies across all life stages. We investigate leatherback hatchling dispersal from four Mesoamerican nesting beaches using passive tracer experiments within a regional ocean modelling system. The evolution of tracer distribution from each of the nesting beaches showed the strong influence of eddy transport and coastal currents. Modelled hatchlings from Playa Grande, Costa Rica, were most likely to be entrained and transported offshore by large-scale eddies coincident with the peak leatherback nesting and hatchling emergence period. These eddies potentially serve as 'hatchling highways', providing a means of rapid offshore transport away from predation and a productive refuge within which newly hatched turtles can develop. We hypothesize that the most important leatherback nesting beach remaining in the eastern Pacific (Playa Grande) has been evolutionarily selected as an optimal nesting site owing to favourable ocean currents that enhance hatchling survival.
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Details
- Title
- On the dispersal of leatherback turtle hatchlings from Mesoamerican nesting beaches
- Creators
- George L Shillinger (Corresponding Author) - Stanford UniversityEmanuele Di Lorenzo - Georgia Institute of TechnologyHao Luo - Georgia Institute of TechnologySteven J Bograd - NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science CenterElliott L Hazen - NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Southwest Fisheries Science CenterHelen Bailey - University of Maryland, BaltimoreJames R Spotila - Drexel University, Biology
- Publication Details
- Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences, v 279(1737), pp 2391-2395
- Publisher
- The Royal Society; England
- Number of pages
- 5
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES); [Retired Faculty]
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000303888500014
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84862741985
- Other Identifier
- 991014878167904721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Biology
- Ecology
- Evolutionary Biology