Post-nesting migrations of green sea turtles on Playa Cabuyal in Costa Rica

Nathan J. Robinson, Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC)

Sea turtle species, even when sharing nesting beaches, exhibit distinct at-sea movements and foraging behavior. At Playa Cabuyal, a sea turtle nesting beach in northwest Costa Rica, we utilized satellite telemetry to reveal the post-nesting movement of green turtles (Chelonia mydas, n = 9) alongside carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of skin samples of green (n = 28), olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea, n = 20), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea, n = 4) turtles. Green turtles (2012–2015) undertook three migratory strategies: moving northward to Nicaragua and the Gulf of Fonseca (n = 6), remaining resident near Cabuyal in the Gulf of Papagayo (n = 2), or migrating south to the Gulf of Guayaquil in Ecuador (n = 1). There was no significant difference in the δ13C values of green turtles (mean: −14.7‰, range: −16.8‰ to −12.8‰) and olive ridley turtles (mean: −15.1‰, δ13C: −16.6‰ to −14.2‰) suggesting that both species forage across a range of coastal and offshore habitats, while δ13C values for leatherback turtles (mean: −15.5‰, range: −15.9‰ to −15.0‰) suggest exclusively offshore habitat use. In contrast, δ15N values of green turtles (mean: 16.0‰, range: 13.7 to 17.4‰) were significantly higher than those for olive ridley turtles (mean: 14.2‰, range: 12.3‰ to 15.7‰) suggesting that green turtles may be predominately carnivorous. The notably wide range of δ15N values in leatherback turtles (mean: 14.9‰, range: 12.2‰ to 16.8‰) also suggests that this species feeds across many different trophic levels of gelatinous prey. Evidence that the sea turtles nesting on Playa Cabuyal utilize a broad range of foraging areas in the East Tropical Pacific underscores the need for coordinated, multinational conservation efforts for these species.

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The dataset has been updated over time as outlined below. Each entry includes the version number, release date, type of change, and a short description.

Overview

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. The availability of the attributes depends on the share policy. When "Minimum attributes" is selected, only date/time, lat/lon, species identification and group size are available. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider. When "All attributes" is selected, all attributes are available in download.

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Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	Unique ID number (generated by OBIS-SEAMAP)
ptt	PTT
datetime	Date and time in local time zone
lon	Longitude in decimal degrees
lat	Latitude in decimal degrees
species	Chelonia mydas
sp_tsn	Taxonomic Serial Number added by OBIS-SEAMAP
obs_count	Number of animal added by OBIS-SEAMAP (always 1)
geom	Geometry field added by OBIS-SEAMAP