• Smaller turtles are nesting on Florida b

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Thu Jul 8 21:30:34 2021
    Smaller turtles are nesting on Florida beaches
    The findings give clues to the health and status of the threatened
    species

    Date:
    July 8, 2021
    Source:
    University of Central Florida
    Summary:
    A new study indicates that smaller loggerhead and green sea
    turtles are nesting on Florida beaches than in the past; however,
    researchers aren't sure why. The findings give clues to the status
    of the turtles, which is important to researchers who are monitoring
    the population health of the threatened species.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    A new University of Central Florida study indicates that smaller
    loggerhead and green sea turtles are nesting on Florida beaches than in
    the past; however, researchers aren't sure why.


    ==========================================================================
    The findings, published this month in the journal Ecosphere, give clues
    to the status of the turtles, which is important to researchers who are monitoring the population health of the threatened species.

    Central Florida's Atlantic coastline hosts about one-third of all green
    turtle nests in the state and is one of the most important nesting areas
    in the world for loggerheads.

    Sea turtles are important as iconic symbols of conservation in Florida
    and for the role they play in maintaining a healthy ocean ecosystem.

    The reason for the appearance of smaller nesting turtles is still a
    mystery though, says Katrina Phillips, the study's lead author and a
    doctoral candidate in UCF's Department of Biology.

    "It might be that juvenile turtles are growing more slowly because they
    are having a harder time finding food as a result of habitat degradation
    or competition from other turtles," Phillips says. "Or smaller turtles
    may also be new recruits to the population as a result of successful sea
    turtle conservation efforts. We don't know why we're seeing more small
    turtles nesting." The researchers made the discovery by comparing shell
    length of nearly 10,000 nesting female loggerheads and more than 3,000
    nesting female green turtles.

    The measurements were collected by UCF's Marine Turtle Research Group
    over the course of a 37-year period, from 1982 to 2019.



    ==========================================================================
    The nesting turtles were observed in the Brevard County portion of
    the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. Age is not recorded or known
    because it requires examining a cross-section of the turtle's leg bone,
    which would require invasively sampling the turtle, and even then,
    at best, age would be estimated.

    The researchers found that the average size of nesting loggerheads
    decreased by nearly 1 inch and the average size of nesting green sea
    turtles decreased by more than 1.5 inches since 1982.

    In addition to raising questions about why the turtles are smaller,
    the findings also mean that when estimating female sea turtle maturity
    based on size, researchers and management agencies will need to consider smaller turtles in their estimates.

    "The numbers we provide for the minimum size range of mature females will
    help other groups who study turtles in the water, where it's not clear if
    they are mature or not, better estimate which of theirs are juveniles,"
    she says.

    The extensive study was made possible by the long-time work of UCF's
    Marine Sea Turtle Research Group, the researcher says.

    "Many nesting beach projects take these measurements, but the UCF project
    is unique because of how long it's been going on and how many turtles
    come ashore to nest here," Phillips says. "Florida gets more loggerhead
    nests than anywhere else in the world, and the green turtle nest numbers
    are rising." The monitoring project was started in 1982 by UCF Professor Emeritus and Pegasus Professor of Biology Llewellyn "Doc" Ehrhart.

    Phillips says the UCF Marine Turtle Research Group will continue
    monitoring the nesting sites, which will allow researchers to assess if
    the trends continue or change.

    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
    University_of_Central_Florida. Original written by Robert Wells. Note:
    Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Katrina F. Phillips, Gustavo D. Stahelin, Ryan M. Chabot,
    Katherine L.

    Mansfield. Long‐term trends in marine turtle size at maturity
    at an important Atlantic rookery. Ecosphere, 2021; 12 (7) DOI:
    10.1002/ ecs2.3631 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/07/210708135408.htm

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