dc.contributor.author | Bradshaw, PJ | |
dc.contributor.author | Broderick, AC | |
dc.contributor.author | Carreras, C | |
dc.contributor.author | Inger, R | |
dc.contributor.author | Fuller, W | |
dc.contributor.author | Snape, R | |
dc.contributor.author | Stokes, KL | |
dc.contributor.author | Godley, BJ | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-11-01T14:39:21Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2017-11-06 | |
dc.description.abstract | Identifying links between breeding and non-breeding sites in migratory animals is an important step in understanding their ecology. Recognising the relative importance of foraging areas and ascertaining site-specific levels of recruitment can provide fundamental and applied insights. Here, satellite telemetry and the stable isotope ratios (δ13C, δ15N and δ34S) of 230 green turtles Chelonia mydas from a regionally important rookery in northern Cyprus were employed to evaluate the relative importance of 4 foraging areas. A preliminary analysis of stable isotope ratios suggested that a major foraging area had been missed through satellite telemetry as a large proportion of turtles had isotope ratios that did not correspond to sites previously identified. Stable isotope ratios were then employed to select 5 turtles to be fitted with platform terminal transmitters in 2015. All 5 turtles were subsequently tracked to the same location, Lake Bardawil in Egypt. Serially collected tissue samples from 45 females, ranging over 2 to 4 breeding seasons, suggested that foraging site fidelity was very common, with 82% of females exhibiting extremely high temporal consistency in isotope ratios. Quantifying fidelity allowed an evaluation of foraging area-specific contributions to each breeding cohort over the past 2 decades and demonstrated that recruitment was unequal among sites, and dynamic over time, with Egypt now currently the major contributor to the nesting aggregation. This work demonstrates the utility of stable isotope analysis to elucidate the spatial ecology of cryptic taxa and illustrates how more robust baselines can be assembled against which to measure the success of future marine conservation initiatives. | en_GB |
dc.description.sponsorship | P.J.B. is funded by a National Environment
Research Council grant 1353865. C.C. is supported by
the project CTM2013-48163 from Ministerio de Economía y
Competitividad. We thank the following for their support:
Marine Turtle Conservation Project (MTCP), Mediterranean
Association to Save the Sea Turtles (MEDASSSET), North
Cyprus Department of Environmental Protection, seaturtle.
org, Society for the Protection of Sea Turtles in North Cyprus
(SPOT); and for funding: Apache, British Chelonia Group,
BP Egypt, the British High Commission and British Residents
Society of North Cyprus, Darwin Initiative, Erwin Warth
Foundation, Friends of SPOT, INNPA, Kuzey Kıbrıs Turkcell,
NERC, Marine Conservation Society Sea Turtle Conservation
Fund, and MEDASSET, UK. | en_GB |
dc.identifier.citation | Vol. 582, pp. 201 - 214 | en_GB |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.3354/meps12297 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10871/34602 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_GB |
dc.publisher | Inter Research | en_GB |
dc.rights | © The authors 2017. Open Access under Creative Commons by
Attribution Licence. Use, distribution and reproduction are unrestricted. Authors and original publication must be credited. | en_GB |
dc.subject | Migration | en_GB |
dc.subject | Foraging | en_GB |
dc.subject | Fidelity | en_GB |
dc.subject | Recruitment | en_GB |
dc.subject | Chelonia mydas | en_GB |
dc.subject | Marine turtles | en_GB |
dc.title | Satellite tracking and stable isotope analysis highlight differential recruitment among foraging areas in green turtles | en_GB |
dc.type | Article | en_GB |
dc.date.available | 2018-11-01T14:39:21Z | |
dc.identifier.issn | 0171-8630 | |
dc.description | This is the final version. Available on open access from Inter Research via the DOI in this record | en_GB |
dc.identifier.journal | Marine Ecology Progress Series | en_GB |