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Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature

The relationship between dive behavior and oceanographic conditions is not well understood for marine predators, especially sea turtles. We tagged loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) with satellite-linked depth loggers in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is a minimal amount of dive data for this spe...

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Autores principales: Iverson, Autumn R., Fujisaki, Ikuko, Lamont, Margaret M., Hart, Kristen M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6685635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31390354
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220372
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author Iverson, Autumn R.
Fujisaki, Ikuko
Lamont, Margaret M.
Hart, Kristen M.
author_facet Iverson, Autumn R.
Fujisaki, Ikuko
Lamont, Margaret M.
Hart, Kristen M.
author_sort Iverson, Autumn R.
collection PubMed
description The relationship between dive behavior and oceanographic conditions is not well understood for marine predators, especially sea turtles. We tagged loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) with satellite-linked depth loggers in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is a minimal amount of dive data for this species. We tested for associations between four measurements of dive behavior (total daily dive frequency, frequency of dives to the bottom, frequency of long dives and time-at-depth) and both oceanographic conditions (sea surface temperature [SST], net primary productivity [NPP]) and behavioral mode (inter-nesting, migration, or foraging). From 2011–2013 we obtained 26 tracks from 25 adult female loggerheads tagged after nesting in the Gulf of Mexico. All turtles remained in the Gulf of Mexico and spent about 10% of their time at the surface (10% during inter-nesting, 14% during migration, 9% during foraging). Mean total dive frequency was 41.9 times per day. Most dives were ≤ 25 m and between 30–40 min. During inter-nesting and foraging, turtles dived to the bottom 95% of days. SST was an important explanatory variable for all dive patterns; higher SST was associated with more dives per day, more long dives and more dives to the seafloor. Increases in NPP were associated with more long dives and more dives to the bottom, while lower NPP resulted in an increased frequency of overall diving. Longer dives occurred more frequently during migration and a higher proportion of dives reached the seafloor during foraging when SST and NPP were higher. Our study stresses the importance of the interplay between SST and foraging resources for influencing dive behavior.
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spelling pubmed-66856352019-08-15 Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature Iverson, Autumn R. Fujisaki, Ikuko Lamont, Margaret M. Hart, Kristen M. PLoS One Research Article The relationship between dive behavior and oceanographic conditions is not well understood for marine predators, especially sea turtles. We tagged loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) with satellite-linked depth loggers in the Gulf of Mexico, where there is a minimal amount of dive data for this species. We tested for associations between four measurements of dive behavior (total daily dive frequency, frequency of dives to the bottom, frequency of long dives and time-at-depth) and both oceanographic conditions (sea surface temperature [SST], net primary productivity [NPP]) and behavioral mode (inter-nesting, migration, or foraging). From 2011–2013 we obtained 26 tracks from 25 adult female loggerheads tagged after nesting in the Gulf of Mexico. All turtles remained in the Gulf of Mexico and spent about 10% of their time at the surface (10% during inter-nesting, 14% during migration, 9% during foraging). Mean total dive frequency was 41.9 times per day. Most dives were ≤ 25 m and between 30–40 min. During inter-nesting and foraging, turtles dived to the bottom 95% of days. SST was an important explanatory variable for all dive patterns; higher SST was associated with more dives per day, more long dives and more dives to the seafloor. Increases in NPP were associated with more long dives and more dives to the bottom, while lower NPP resulted in an increased frequency of overall diving. Longer dives occurred more frequently during migration and a higher proportion of dives reached the seafloor during foraging when SST and NPP were higher. Our study stresses the importance of the interplay between SST and foraging resources for influencing dive behavior. Public Library of Science 2019-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC6685635/ /pubmed/31390354 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220372 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication.
spellingShingle Research Article
Iverson, Autumn R.
Fujisaki, Ikuko
Lamont, Margaret M.
Hart, Kristen M.
Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature
title Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature
title_full Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature
title_fullStr Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature
title_full_unstemmed Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature
title_short Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature
title_sort loggerhead sea turtle (caretta caretta) diving changes with productivity, behavioral mode, and sea surface temperature
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6685635/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31390354
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220372
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