Internesting and Postnesting Movements and Foraging Habitats of Leatherback Sea Turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) Nesting in Florida

By S. Eckert, D. Bagley, S. Kubis, L. Ehrhart, Chris Johnson, Kelly R. Stewart, D. Defreese. 2006

92 citations recorded by the source corpus.

ABSTRACT We tracked 10 leatherback turtles by satellite from 2 Florida Atlantic Coast nesting beaches for a period ranging from 38 days to more than 454 days. Movement and foraging areas were often coastal, which contrasts with other satellite telemetry studies where leatherbacks are more pelagic. Using kernel home-range estimation we identified the primary internesting residence areas as well as Atlantic foraging areas. The primary internesting habitat was centered east–southeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, from 2 to 60 km offshore and extending 215 km along the coast. Atlantic foraging areas were located primarily on the continental shelf from 30° to 50°N, and in an offshore area centered at 42°N, 65°W, as well as off Africa in the Mauritania upwelling. Seasonally, the location of these foraging areas changed, occurring on the North American continental shelf from March through November and off the shelf from December through February. One of the tracked turtles may have been killed with 17 other leatherbacks by coastal shrimp fishing located near the Georgia–Florida border. We illustrate how using remotely sensed data could be used to prevent such mortalities.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/17b51d956cdb81708d0e8a44a486bc1897e88bf9

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

In Global and Planetary Change

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

Citations in the corpus

Movements of the white shark Carcharodon carcharias in the North Atlantic Ocean (2017, background): “This broad-scale seasonal migration is typical of numerous temperate marine species on the US east coast, and has been well-documented in teleosts (Kneebone et al. 2014b), elasmobranchs (Kohler et al. 1998, Kneebone et al. 2014a), sea turtles (Eckert et al. 2006), and cetaceans (Kenney & Winn 1986).”
Satellite tracking of sea turtles: Where have we been and where do we go next? (2008, background): “Perhaps the exception, Shaver & Rubio (2008) outline how tracking, in addition to nesting and stranding data were instrumental in the development of a timearea fisheries closure in Texas, USA to protect Kemp’s ridley turtles.”
Inter-annual variability in the home range of breeding turtles: implications for current and future conservation management. (2010, background): “…with satellite transmitters and, for example, their movements within the breeding area are described (e.g. Hays et al., 1991; Shaver et al., 2005; Eckert et al., 2006; Georges et al., 2007; Seney and Landry, 2008), these results have rarely been placed in the context of home range estimates.”