Sea Turtle

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In their 2019 paper, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB) used sea turtle data collected between 2003 and 2018 to estimate abundance and predict future population trends for green and hawksbill turtles on Bonaire’s west coast. The non-profit organization has now expanded that research in their latest paper to determine the population trend between 2019 and 2022.

Hawksbill turtle. Photo credit: Brenda Kirkby

Sea turtles are an iconic species that face a wide variety of threats.  Since these species can travel vast distances, they are susceptible to a number of transboundary threats, including climate change and poaching as well as local concerns such as pollution and habitat loss.  Monitoring nesting and foraging grounds is a critical part in understanding long-term sea turtle trends throughout the Caribbean.

Unfortunately, sea turtles can be difficult to accurately monitor due to issues with detection and hence incomplete counts. To combat this, research statisticians have developed methods to estimate detection and population size, allowing for more realistic counts. STCB has been working many years to monitor local turtle populations, and in collaboration with Frank Rivera-Milan, to determine trends and test the accuracy of prediction models. For this particular research, the goal was to determine whether the population increased, decreased on remained the same between 2019 and 2022, compared to 2003-2018 and predictions for 2019-2030.

Results

Between 2019 and 2022, surveys were conducted along western Bonaire and Klein Bonaire. In total 703 green turtles and 56 hawksbill turtles were recorded.  Researchers also looked at how easy it was to spot the turtles, and they found that some factors, like the substrate (e.g., sand, rubble) or the level of disturbance (e.g., boats, divers), influenced the number of turtles that were detected.

Green turtle. Photo credit: Brenda Kirkby

When comparing historical data to the prediction data, this study yielded interesting results.  For green turtles, the number of turtles counted between 2019 and 2022 did not change much but was comparatively lower than data collected from 2003-2018 and lower than estimates predicted in the 2019-2030 model.  The number of hawksbill turtles, on the other hand, fluctuated between 2019 and 2022 but was similar to previous surveys (conducted between 2003-2018) and was closer to the predictive models.

Implications

The study’s density estimates aligned with previous research on sea turtles in other locations, and the researchers emphasized the importance of accounting for detection when estimating population numbers. This research concluded that this methodology provided reliable detection and population estimates for monitoring sea turtles within foraging grounds in the Caribbean, therefore this approach could be valuable for similar studies in coastal areas.

DCNA

The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) supports science communication and outreach in the Dutch Caribbean region by making nature related scientific information more widely available through amongst others the Dutch Caribbean Biodiversity Database, DCNA’s news platform BioNews and through the press. This article contains the results of one of those scientific studies, but this study is not a DCNA study. No rights can be derived from the content. DCNA is not liable for the content and the in(direct) impacts resulting from publishing this article.

In hun wetenschappelijk artikel uit 2019 gebruikte Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire (STCB) gegevens over zeeschildpadden die tussen 2003 en 2018 waren verzameld om de populatie te schatten en toekomstige populatietrends voor groene en karetschildpadden aan de westkust van Bonaire te voorspellen. STCB heeft dat onderzoek nu uitgebreid in hun nieuwste wetenschappelijk artikel om de populatietrend tussen 2019 en 2022 te bepalen.

Karetschildpadden. Photo credit: Brenda Kirkby

Zeeschildpadden zijn een iconische soort die met een breed scala aan bedreigingen wordt geconfronteerd. Omdat deze soorten grote afstanden kunnen afleggen, zijn ze vatbaar voor een aantal grensoverschrijdende bedreigingen, waaronder klimaatverandering en stroperij, maar ook voor lokale problemen zoals vervuiling en verlies van leefgebied. Het monitoren van broed- en foerageergebieden is een cruciaal onderdeel om inzicht te krijgen in de langetermijntrends van zeeschildpadden in het Caribisch gebied.

Helaas kunnen zeeschildpadden moeilijk nauwkeurig te volgen zijn vanwege problemen met detectie en dus onvolledige tellingen. Om dit tegen te gaan, hebben onderzoeksstatistici methoden ontwikkeld om de detectie en de populatiegrootte te schatten, waardoor meer realistische tellingen mogelijk zijn. STCB werkt al vele jaren aan het monitoren van lokale schildpaddenpopulaties, en in samenwerking met Frank Rivera-Milan, aan het bepalen van trends en het testen van de nauwkeurigheid van voorspellingsmodellen. Voor dit specifieke onderzoek was het doel om te bepalen of de bevolking toenam, daalde of gelijk bleef tussen 2019 en 2022, vergeleken met 2003-2018 en voorspellingen voor 2019-2030.

Resultaten

Tussen 2019 en 2022 zijn tellingen uitgevoerd langs westelijk Bonaire en Klein Bonaire. In totaal werden 703 groene schildpadden en 56 karetschildpadden geregistreerd. Onderzoekers keken ook naar hoe gemakkelijk het was om de schildpadden te spotten, en ze ontdekten dat sommige factoren, zoals de ondergrond (bijvoorbeeld zand, puin) of de mate van verstoring (bijvoorbeeld boten, duikers), van invloed waren op het aantal schildpadden dat werd gedetecteerd.

Groene schildpad. Photo credit: Brenda Kirkby

Bij het vergelijken van historische gegevens met de voorspellingsgegevens leverde dit onderzoek interessante resultaten op. Voor groene schildpadden veranderde het aantal getelde schildpadden tussen 2019 en 2022 niet veel, maar was relatief lager dan de gegevens verzameld van 2003-2018 en lager dan de schattingen die in het 2019-2030-model waren voorspeld. Het aantal karetschildpadden fluctueerde daarentegen tussen 2019 en 2022, maar was vergelijkbaar met eerdere onderzoeken (uitgevoerd tussen 2003-2018) en lag dichter bij de voorspellende modellen.

Implicaties

De schattingen van de dichtheid tijdens de studie kwamen overeen met eerder onderzoek naar zeeschildpadden op andere locaties, en de onderzoekers benadrukten het belang van het verantwoorden van detectie bij het schatten van populatieaantallen. Dit onderzoek concludeerde dat deze methodologie betrouwbare detectie- en populatieschattingen opleverde voor het monitoren van zeeschildpadden in foerageergebieden in het Caribisch gebied, daarom zou deze aanpak waardevol kunnen zijn voor soortgelijke studies in kustgebieden.

DCNA

De Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) ondersteunt wetenschapscommunicatie en outreach in de Nederlandse Caribische regio door natuurgerelateerde wetenschappelijke informatie breder beschikbaar te maken via onder meer de Dutch Caribbean Biodiversity Database, DCNA’s nieuwsplatform BioNews en via de pers. Dit artikel bevat de resultaten van een van die wetenschappelijke onderzoeken, maar dit onderzoek is geen DCNA-onderzoek. Aan de inhoud kunnen geen rechten worden ontleend. DCNA is niet aansprakelijk voor de inhoud en de indirecte gevolgen die voortvloeien uit het publiceren van dit artikel.

Published in BioNews 67

Editor’s Note

Considering the Sea Turtle Umwelt

Coined by Jakob von Uexküll in 1909, the word umwelt derives from the German word for environment, but more specifically it means the unique perceptual world of any living thing, be it an amoeba, tree, bug, bird, human, or sea turtle. The human umwelt is our sensory window to the world around us, and we often mistakenly believe that our perception is reality. Yet we cannot experience the countless colors beyond our visible spectra, the sounds above and below our audible range, or the array of scents and tastes that are unknown to us, not to mention electric fields; magnetic forces; and tiny variations in temperature, pressure, vibration, and air and ocean currents that we are simply unable to detect. Humans are sensually blind to many of the stimuli that Earth has to offer.

Science has historically seen other species through the anthropomorphic lens of the human umwelt. So it is no surprise that most data on sea turtles come from observations of nesting females and hatchlings in places that are easily accessed by human eyes. Yet, to be good conservationists of turtles and their environments, we need to adopt a sort of “turtle empathy,” place ourselves in their flippers, and ask (as we do in the FAQ on p. 38) how their umwelt may diverge from ours. Sea turtle lives take place in nearly every ocean biome, from coasts to the open sea, and from the surface to perpetual darkness. As such, their sensory reception is drastically different from that of humans, and we ought to understand it better if we are to properly buffer turtles and their habitats from the hazards of man.

To be sure, our community is chipping away at this understanding, and technology is helping. Seeing a nesting beach from the air by night—not with human eyes, but using a heat-sensing aerial drone (see article pp. 6–9)—can reveal new truths. By synthesizing hundreds of leatherback telemetry tracks from dozens of researchers, even a new map projection (see p. 27) can challenge us to visualize global leatherback movements in an ocean-centric perspective for the f irst time.

Also lying outside the sea turtle umwelt are the innumerable boundaries that humans have drawn on Earth, ranging from national borders to exclusive economic zones, marine protected areas, and even the vast unbounded high seas of the world, frontiers that are entirely imperceptible to turtles. In this issue (pp. 12–15), we present the latest versions of regional management units, an ongoing effort to see the planet from a sea turtle perspective that uses the biogeographic limits that matter most to them.

Imagine if you could be a sea turtle for long enough to see, hear, feel, magnetosense, and receive all the stimuli that drive their behaviors, determine their geography, and define their niches in the global biosphere. Now consider how humanity encroaches on that sea turtle umwelt with stimuli like artificial light, low- frequency noise, warming and acidifying seas containing manmade compounds, and more. We hope that the articles in this volume of SWOT Report will help you to indulge your imagination, consider new perspectives, think inside the sea turtle umwelt, and seek new ways to better understand and conserve the oceans.

Roderic B. Mast

Chief Editor

Abstract
Seven species of turtles are present in a wide range of areas across the earth. The species that use 
the beaches of Sint Maarten as nesting grounds are the Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), 
Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) and Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata). 
Even with their protected status, populations are declining rapidly. This has a negative impact since 
sea turtles have significant ecological, economic and social values. To prevent populations from 
declining further, research is needed to create proper conservation strategies. This research focuses 
on different factors that could hinder nesting activity and how they influence sea turtles on Sint 
Maarten. These potential factors were researched in the literature and were determined to be 
artificial lighting, dune scarps, coastal development, slope, distance from high tide line to beach line, 
sargassum and human disturbances. Using a Spearman correlation test in SPSS, the correlation 
between the presence of these factors and the total nesting activity that takes place was tested. The 
test showed a moderate negative relation which was statistically significant 
(rs = -.681, p = .044). This means that the number of factors that are present at each beach influence 
the total nesting activity to some extent, but no strong correlation is present. These results indicate 
that if more factors which could hinder the sea turtle nesting activity are present, less sea turtle 
nesting activities take place on that beach on St. Maarten.

Sea turtles are basically creatures that spend their entire lives in marine or estuarine habitats.Their only remaining reptilian ties to terrestrial habitats are for nesting and restricted cases of basking. Consequently.physiological. anatomical. and behavioral adaptations have evolved largely in response to selection in the aquatic environment and sea turtles share many common elements with liirger tislics and cetaceans in their habitat utilization and migrations. A generalized habitat model may he con- structed for sea turtles based on ontogenetic stages (Figure 6.1):

I. Early juvenile nursery habitat (usually pelagic and oceanic).
2. Later juvenile developmental habitat (usually demersal and neritic).

3. Adult foraging habitat.
4. Adult inter-nesting andfor breeding habitat. 

All sea turtles move immediately to the sea after hatching, usually after dark, and swim actively offshore. Most then undertake a mostly passive, denatant {sensu Jones)' migration drifting pelagically in oceanic gyre systems. Subsequently, after a period of years, these now larger and older juveniles actively recruit to demersal neritic dcvelopmentai habitats in the tropical and temperate zones. Demersal juve- niles in some temperate zone populations make seasonal migrations to foraging areas at higher latitudes in summer and lower latitudes in winter (see below) while those in tropical areas are more localized in their movements, When approaching maturity, pubescent turtles move into adult foraging habitats. In some populations adult habitats are geographically distinct from juvenile developmental habitats;24in others they may overlap or coin~ide.U~p.~on maturity as the nesting season approaches adults make a contranatant migration toward the nesting beaches. Most mating occurs t poorly defined courtship areas that are clone KÃthe nesting beaches relitlive lo the distant foraging areas. Afler mating the females move to their respcclivc nesting beaches.'-* Courtship areas may be directly HITthe nesting beaches,*or remote from the beaches,'" depending on the population. During the nesting season, females usually become resident in the internesting habitat in the vicinity of the nesting beach." The focus of the present paper is habitat utilization and migration of juvenile sea turtles and nursery and developmental habitats. 

The study of temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) in vertebrates has attracted major scientific interest. Recently, concerns for species with TSD in a warming world have increased because imbalanced sex ratios could potentially threaten population viability. In contrast, relatively little attention has been given to the direct effects of increased temperatures on successful embryonic development. Using 6603 days of sand temperature data recorded across 6 years at a globally important loggerhead sea turtle rookery—the Cape Verde Islands—we show the effects of warming incubation temperatures on the survival of hatchlings in nests. Incorporating published data (n = 110 data points for three species across 12 sites globally), we show the generality of relationships between hatchling mortality and incubation temperature and hence the broad applicability of our findings to sea turtles in general. We use a mechanistic approach supplemented by empirical data to consider the linked effects of warming temperatures on hatchling output and on sex ratios for these species that exhibit TSD. Our results show that higher temperatures increase the natural growth rate of the population as more females are produced. As a result, we project that numbers of nests at this globally important site will increase by approximately 30% by the year 2100. However, as incubation temperatures near lethal levels, the natural growth rate of the population decreases and the long-term survival of this turtle population is threatened. Our results highlight concerns for species with TSD in a warming world and underline the need for research to extend from a focus on temperature-dependent sex determination to a focus on temperature-linked hatchling mortalities.

Abstract In response to a call from the US National Research Council for research programs to combine their data to improve sea turtle population assessments, we analyzed somatic growth data for Northwest Atlantic (NWA) loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from 10 research programs. We assessed growth dynamics over wide ranges of geography (9–33°N latitude), time (1978–2012), and body size (35.4–103.3 cm carapace length). Generalized additive models revealed significant spatial and temporal variation in growth rates and a sig- nificant decline in growth rates with increasing body size. Growth was more rapid in waters south of the USA (\24°N) than in USA waters. Growth dynamics in southern waters in the NWA need more study because sample size was small. Within USA waters, the significant spatial effect in growth rates of immature loggerheads did not exhibit a consistent latitudinal trend. Growth rates declined signifi- cantly from 1997 through 2007 and then leveled off or increased. During this same interval, annual nest counts in Florida declined by 43 % (Witherington et al. in Ecol Appl 19:30–54, 2009) before rebounding. Whether these simul- taneous declines reflect responses in productivity to a common environmental change should be explored to determine whether somatic growth rates can help interpret population trends based on annual counts of nests or nesting females. Because of the significant spatial and temporal variation in growth rates, population models of NWA loggerheads should avoid employing growth data from restricted spatial or temporal coverage to calculate demographic metrics such as age at sexual maturity. 

In the beginning of January, as part of the Ecological Restoration of Lac and the South of Bonaire, 50 green buttonwood trees (a native species of mangrove) were planted along the inside of the fence on Te Amo Beach. Over time, the green buttonwood will form a natural barrier that will replace the existing fence.

 The fence, which is covered in palm leaves, has been effective at reducing light pollution from the airport, thereby reducing the disorientation of nesting turtles and hatchlings at Te Amo Beach. As the vegetation alongside the fence grows, it will further reduce light from the airport and the road.

The new vegetation will help nesting turtles, such as the critically endangered hawksbill that likes to nest underneath shore plants. The roots of the trees will also bind the sand, which in its turn prevents the sand from blowing away, maintaining one of Bonaire’s precious beaches. The new vegetation is therefore a win-win; preserving the beach for sea turtles and for humans too!

The conservation efforts at Te Amo Beach, for which Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire partnered with WILDCONSCIENCE BV, are part of the Ecological Restoration of Lac and the South of Bonaire: a project that is coordinated by the openbaar lichaam Bonaire and funded with ‘natuurgelden’ made available by the Dutch government. In addition, Green Label Landscaping N.V. has sponsored part of the tree planting and also the watering of the plants during their first month to ensure that the buttonwood grows successfully.

THOUSANDS OF SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISMS IN THE CRITICALLY EN- DANGERED KEMP’S RIDLEY SEA TURTLE (LEPIDOCHELYS KEMPII) REVEALED BY DOU- BLE-DIGEST RESTRICTION-ASSOCIATED DNA SEQUENCING: OPPORTUNITIES FOR PREVIOUSLY ELUSIVE CONSERVATION GE- NETICS RESEARCH.—Among sea turtles, the Kemp’s ridley is the most endangered and geographically restricted, with its distribution mostly confined to the Gulf of Mexico (NMFS and USFWS, 2015). After experiencing a severe and sustained bottleneck that put this species on the verge of extinction, it appeared to be rebounding successfully, as evidenced by an exponential growth in the number of nests observed per nesting season, following decades of Mexico–United States bi-national efforts aimed at its recovery (Heppell et al., 2007). Unfortunately, nesting was severely reduced by ~35% during 2010 (the year of the BP Deepwa- ter Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico), as compared to nesting rates in 2009 (NMFS and USFWS, 2015). Although nesting rebounded during 2011 and 2012 to levels similar to that of 2009, nesting declined drastically again during 2013 and experienced a further drop during 2014 (NMFS and USFWS, 2015; Shaver et al., 2016). The number of nests in 2014 represents a 46% decrease from 2012, which was the year with the highest recorded number of nests since 1965 (Sarti, 2014). Should nesting continue to de- cline, long-term species recovery efforts will be compromised. Therefore, there is deep concern about the future of the Kemp’s ridley, and data to inform and assess bi-national management and conservation measures are urgently needed (Plotkin and Bernardo, 2014). Population ge- netics information crucial to the long-term conservation of the Kemp’s ridley, including baseline data required for monitoring its future status, is lacking. This includes estimations of genomic diversity, effective population size, and number of breeders; assessment of levels of population differentiation; and detection of genomic signatures of bottlenecks. 

LONG-TERM MOVEMENTS OF AN ADULT MALE KEMP’S RIDLEY SEA TURTLE (LEPI- DOCHELYS KEMPII) IN THE NORTHWEST- ERN GULF OF MEXICO—Despite recent insights into the spatial ecology of juvenile (Morreale and Standora, 2005; Renaud and Williams, 2005; Mansfield, 2006; McClellan, 2009; Seney and Landry, 2011; Lyn et al., 2012) and postnesting female Kemp’s ridleys (Lepi- dochelys kempii) (Seney and Landry, 2008, 2011; Shaver and Rubio, 2008; Shaver et al., 2013, 2016), the breeding, migratory, and foraging behaviors of adult male Kemp’s ridleys remain largely unknown (Shaver et al., 2005).

The current paradigm suggests that adult male Kemp’s ridleys primarily reside in neritic forag- ing habitats near nesting beaches year round and engage in courtship and mating activities in March, immediately before the April–July nest- ing season (Owens, 1980; Rostal et al., 1998; Rostal, 1991, 2005; Shaver et al., 2005). Field observations of mounted pairs near known nesting beaches have occurred between October and May in Mexico (Rancho Nuevo) and in early June in Texas [Padre Island National Seashore (PAIS)], although confirmation of copulation is lacking (Pritchard and Ma ́rquez, 1973; Shaver et al., 2005). This tendency for male Kemp’s ridleys to establish year-round residency near nesting beaches is behaviorally disparate from seasonal migratory movements displayed by adult female conspecifics (Seney and Landry, 2008, 2011; Shaver and Rubio, 2008; Shaver et al., 2016; Hughes and Landry, unpubl. data) and males of other species (Lepidochelys olivacea: Beavers and Cassano, 1996; Plotkin et al., 1996; Caretta caretta: Arendt et al., 2012; Casale et al., 2013; Chelonia mydas: Limpus, 1993; Hays et al., 2001; Der- mochelys coriacea: James et al., 2005).

Identification of spatially and temporally defined areas frequented by adult male Kemp’s ridleys for breeding, migrating, or foraging is necessary to accomplish a Priority 1 Recovery Task in the Kemp’s Ridley Recovery Plan mandating protection and management of im- portant marine habitats (National Marine Fish- eries Service, 2011). Implementation of marine protected areas and other conservation measures to facilitate protection of adult males utilizing

critical habitats will require a comprehensive effort to better delineate habitat boundaries, assess localized sources of mortality, and, in foraging areas, to quantify and qualify prey resources and physical site characteristics. Infor- mation on adult male Kemp’s ridley migratory behavior is currently limited to a single source describing the movements of 11 individuals incidentally captured from waters near Rancho Nuevo (Shaver et al., 2005). Our analysis herein of a single adult male Kemp’s ridley’s long-term movements in northwestern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) waters, which recently have been identi- fied as critical foraging (Shaver et al., 2013) and migratory (Shaver et al., 2016) habitat for adult female conspecifics, is the longest time series of information to date for a male sea turtle. This study provides valuable insight into the behavior of an individual male Kemp’s ridley and has implications for the management and conserva- tion of the species. 

Coincident with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, unprecedented numbers of Kemp’s ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) stranded on northern Gulf of Mexico beaches and the number of nests recorded on the primary nesting beaches plummeted far below expected levels. High levels of strandings have continued since 2010 and the number of nests recovered to approximately 2009 levels in 2011, and improved slightly in 2012. A stock assessment conducted in 2012 indicated that a mortality event occurred in 2010, and that the number of nests should once more exhibit an increasing trend from 2013 and beyond. This has not happened; rather, the number of nests declined sharply in 2013. We conducted a new stock assessment to evaluate additional scenarios, including 1) three stock-recruitment options; 2) the potential that a new source of ongoing mortality is present; and 3) the potential that the number of nests- per-adult-female is dependent on the size of the age-2þ benthic population. The latter model provided the best fit to the data. Further, the preliminary estimate of actual nesting in 2014 is consistent with model projections. The reduction in reproductive output could be due to the combination of a large population and reduced prey levels. Together these may have increased the remigration interval or reduced the number of nests per female. However, research is needed to evaluate this and other plausible hypotheses. Nesting may be highly variable in the future depending on feeding conditions on the foraging grounds.