Casey Key Loggerheads-2009
Mote Marine Laboratory

Mote Marine Laboratory

A focus of this year's satellite tracking project is to compare stable isotope results with telemetry results to determine the efficacy of using stable isotopes to elucidate post-nesting migratory destinations of sea turtles. Stable isotope analysis of skin and eggshell tissue (which reflect foraging areas) will be compared with the oceanographic regions visited during satellite tracking. Stable isotope values that are consistently different for females in oceanic vs. neritic habitats lend credence to their use to infer post-nesting migratory destinations. A lack of matching between isotope values (pre-nesting habitat) and satellite tracks (post-nesting habitats) would suggest a) that loggerheads do not exhibit philopatry to foraging regions, or b) that loggerhead habitat use is too flexible to use isotopes in inferring habitat use. A consistent isotope-telemetry match among individuals would suggest that stable isotopes can be used in lieu of the more expensive satellite telemetry approach to potentially infer foraging grounds.

A second focus is to track female turtles that are potentially bycatch in the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery bottom longline fishery. More information on this issue is summarized at www.sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/TurtlesReefFish.htm

N/A

Project partner
Mote Marine Laboratory is handling the field deployment and satellite tracking while National Marine Fisheries Service is supervising the stable isotope analysis.

Project sponsor
Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund supported this project though a grant to the Longlines and Loggerheads project.
www.conservation.wdwpublicaffairs.com


This project Stable Isotope Profiles of Sea Turtles from the Southwest Rookery, was funded in part by a grant awarded from the Sea Turtle Grants Program proposal 09-001R. The Sea Turtle Grants Program is funded from proceeds from the sale of the Florida Sea Turtle License Plate. Learn more at

www.helpingseaturtles.org

School sponsors: Wooster School.

Corporate and non-profit sponsors: Morrison Family Foundation

Individual support:

Coyne, M. S., and B. J. Godley. 2005. Satellite Tracking and Analysis Tool (STAT): an integrated system for archiving, analyzing and mapping animal tracking data. Marine Ecology Progress Series. Vol. 301:1-7

Girard, C., A. D. Tucker, and B. Calmettes. 2009. Post-nesting migrations of loggerhead sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico: dispersal in highly dynamic conditions. Marine Biology. 156:1827-1839. DOI:10.1007/s00227-009-1216-z

Tucker, A. D. 2009. Eight nests recorded for a loggerhead turtle within one season. Marine Turtle Newsletter. 124:16-17

Overview

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
Only minimum required attributes are visible and downlodable online. Other attributes may be obtained upon provider's permission unless otherwise noteded below.

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

Attributes in dataset provided

Attribute (table column)	Description
sort
uid
prognum
tag_id
year
mon
day
hour
min
sec
utc
lc
iq
lat1
dir1
lon1
dir2
lat2
dir3
lon2
dir4
nb_mes
big_nb_mes
best_level
pass_duration
nopc
calcul_freq
altitude
sensors
species
tsn
timestamp
project_id
lc_filter
speed_filter
distance_filter
topo_filter
time_filter
angle_filter
oid