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Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries

We used satellite telemetry to study behavior at foraging sites of 40 adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida (USA) rookeries. Foraging sites were located in four countries (USA, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Cuba). We were able to determine home range for 32 of the logge...

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Autores principales: Foley, Allen M., Schroeder, Barbara A., Hardy, Robert, MacPherson, Sandra L., Nicholas, Mark
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4033788/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24882883
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2415-9
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author Foley, Allen M.
Schroeder, Barbara A.
Hardy, Robert
MacPherson, Sandra L.
Nicholas, Mark
author_facet Foley, Allen M.
Schroeder, Barbara A.
Hardy, Robert
MacPherson, Sandra L.
Nicholas, Mark
author_sort Foley, Allen M.
collection PubMed
description We used satellite telemetry to study behavior at foraging sites of 40 adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida (USA) rookeries. Foraging sites were located in four countries (USA, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Cuba). We were able to determine home range for 32 of the loggerheads. One turtle moved through several temporary residence areas, but the rest had a primary residence area in which they spent all or most of their time (usually >11 months per year). Twenty-four had a primary residence area that was <500 km(2) (mean = 191). Seven had a primary residence area that was ≥500 km(2) (range = 573–1,907). Primary residence areas were mostly restricted to depths <100 m. Loggerheads appeared to favor areas with larger-grained sediment (gravel and rock) over areas with smaller-grained sediment (mud). Short-term departures from primary residence areas were either looping excursions, typically involving 1–2 weeks of continuous travel, or movement to a secondary residence area where turtles spent 25–45 days before returning to their primary residence area. Ten turtles had a secondary residence area, and six used it as an overwintering site. For those six turtles, the primary residence area was in shallow water (<17 m) in the northern half of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), and overwintering sites were farther offshore or farther south. We documented long winter dive times (>4 h) for the first time in the GOM. Characterizing behaviors at foraging sites helps inform and assess loggerhead recovery efforts.
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spelling pubmed-40337882014-05-29 Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries Foley, Allen M. Schroeder, Barbara A. Hardy, Robert MacPherson, Sandra L. Nicholas, Mark Mar Biol Original Paper We used satellite telemetry to study behavior at foraging sites of 40 adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida (USA) rookeries. Foraging sites were located in four countries (USA, Mexico, the Bahamas, and Cuba). We were able to determine home range for 32 of the loggerheads. One turtle moved through several temporary residence areas, but the rest had a primary residence area in which they spent all or most of their time (usually >11 months per year). Twenty-four had a primary residence area that was <500 km(2) (mean = 191). Seven had a primary residence area that was ≥500 km(2) (range = 573–1,907). Primary residence areas were mostly restricted to depths <100 m. Loggerheads appeared to favor areas with larger-grained sediment (gravel and rock) over areas with smaller-grained sediment (mud). Short-term departures from primary residence areas were either looping excursions, typically involving 1–2 weeks of continuous travel, or movement to a secondary residence area where turtles spent 25–45 days before returning to their primary residence area. Ten turtles had a secondary residence area, and six used it as an overwintering site. For those six turtles, the primary residence area was in shallow water (<17 m) in the northern half of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), and overwintering sites were farther offshore or farther south. We documented long winter dive times (>4 h) for the first time in the GOM. Characterizing behaviors at foraging sites helps inform and assess loggerhead recovery efforts. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2014-03-22 2014 /pmc/articles/PMC4033788/ /pubmed/24882883 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2415-9 Text en © The Author(s) 2014 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Foley, Allen M.
Schroeder, Barbara A.
Hardy, Robert
MacPherson, Sandra L.
Nicholas, Mark
Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries
title Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries
title_full Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries
title_fullStr Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries
title_full_unstemmed Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries
title_short Long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from three Florida rookeries
title_sort long-term behavior at foraging sites of adult female loggerhead sea turtles (caretta caretta) from three florida rookeries
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4033788/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24882883
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-014-2415-9
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