Movement patterns of marine turtles in the Mediterranean Sea: a review

By P. Luschi, P. Casale. 2014

86 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Understanding the at-sea spatial behaviour of sea turtles is a priority for their conservation. In the present paper, the current information on the distribution and movement patterns of the two species breeding in the Mediterranean, the loggerhead and the green turtle, is reviewed, focusing mainly on the 195 published routes of satellite-tracked turtles. A satisfactory level of knowledge about adults’ migrations and other movements is reached only for loggerheads breeding at Zakynthos Island, Greece, and for green and loggerhead females nesting in Cyprus, while studies at foraging grounds are limited to loggerheads in the western and central parts of the basin. Adult males and females mostly show quite uniform post-breeding migratory patterns, typically moving towards individually specific neritic foraging grounds. A much higher variability is shown by loggerhead juveniles, which is probably associated with differences in their spatial behaviour while in oceanic or neritic waters. Evidence of seasonal migrations driven by lower temperatures in winter is available only for adult and juvenile loggerheads frequenting the two northernmost parts of the basin, i.e. the Ligurian and the northern Adriatic Sea. Current knowledge gaps and priorities for further research in the Mediterranean are discussed.

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

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/f09615bee05ce10c6f738742578a7d4986d52186

How researchers see this paper

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

In Ecology

1. G. Hays
2. Bj Godley
3. AC Broderick
4. G. Schofield
5. M. Hamann
6. Mariana M. P. B. Fuentes
7. P. Casale
8. Matthew H. Godfrey

In Global and Planetary Change

1. G. Hays
2. Bj Godley
3. AC Broderick
4. P. Casale
5. G. Schofield
6. M. Hamann
7. A. Rees
8. Matthew H. Godfrey

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. G. Hays
2. Bj Godley
3. AC Broderick
4. P. Casale
5. G. Schofield
6. M. Hamann
7. Mariana M. P. B. Fuentes
8. K. Bjorndal

Citations in the corpus

• Mediterranean sea turtles: current knowledge and priorities for conservation and research (2018, unknown): “Copeia 1982: 741−747 Putman NF, Naro-Maciel E (2013) Finding the ‘lost years’ in green turtles: insights from ocean circulation models and genetic analysis. Proc R Soc B 280: 20131468 Rees AF, Saad A, Jony M (2008) Discovery of a regionally important green turtle Chelonia mydas rookery in Syria. Ory”
• Are we working towards global research priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles (2016, methodology): “Luschi & Casale (2014) 72.”