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Summary

DOI: 10.3354/meps10454

Description

Stage durations are integral to wildlife population models that can inform management, as they influence age at maturation and stage-specific survival rates. To refine oceanic stage duration estimates for western North Atlantic loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta, skeletochronological analysis was conducted on humeri collected in the Azores islands and along the US Atlantic coast. Complementary skeletal growth increment-specific stable isotope analysis was also performed for a sub-set of the humeri, to identify the skeletal growth mark associated with the shift from oceanic to neritic habitat through stable nitrogen isotope (d15N) values and the presence of turtles in inshore waters. Although the transitional growth mark in this sub-sample corresponded to a range of sizes similar to those described in previous studies, mean size at recruitment (55.3 cm straightline carapace length [SCL]) for these turtles was larger than previously estimated. Similarly, while the range of ages at recruitment corresponding both with the transitional growth mark and those yielded by fitting smoothing splines to SCL-at-age data overlapped almost fully with earlier estimates, the mean age estimate (12.4 yr) differed from previous studies. Validated back-calculation of somatic growth rates from skeletal growth marks yielded means and ranges that encompassed those of previous loggerhead growth studies in this geographic area. Generalized additive models and generalized additive mixed models used to assess the potential influence of discrete and continuous covariates on back-calculated growth rates spanning 1984 to 2009 indicated significant effects of age, SCL, calendar year, and d15N, but none for sex or location.

Document Information

Document Type
Journal article

Document Format
Acrobat Portable Document Format

Publication Date
2013-10-02

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  • PDF - Adobe Portable Document Format

    Download Of article itself as a pdf

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Item Identification

Title: Complementary skeletochronology and stable isotope analyses offer new insight into juvenile loggerhead sea turtle oceanic stage duration and growth dynamics
Status: Completed
Publication Date: 2013-10-02
Abstract:

Stage durations are integral to wildlife population models that can inform management, as they influence age at maturation and stage-specific survival rates. To refine oceanic stage duration estimates for western North Atlantic loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta, skeletochronological analysis was conducted on humeri collected in the Azores islands and along the US Atlantic coast. Complementary skeletal growth increment-specific stable isotope analysis was also performed for a sub-set of the humeri, to identify the skeletal growth mark associated with the shift from oceanic to neritic habitat through stable nitrogen isotope (d15N) values and the presence of turtles in inshore waters. Although the transitional growth mark in this sub-sample corresponded to a range of sizes similar to those described in previous studies, mean size at recruitment (55.3 cm straightline carapace length [SCL]) for these turtles was larger than previously estimated. Similarly, while the range of ages at recruitment corresponding both with the transitional growth mark and those yielded by fitting smoothing splines to SCL-at-age data overlapped almost fully with earlier estimates, the mean age estimate (12.4 yr) differed from previous studies. Validated back-calculation of somatic growth rates from skeletal growth marks yielded means and ranges that encompassed those of previous loggerhead growth studies in this geographic area. Generalized additive models and generalized additive mixed models used to assess the potential influence of discrete and continuous covariates on back-calculated growth rates spanning 1984 to 2009 indicated significant effects of age, SCL, calendar year, and d15N, but none for sex or location.

Other Citation Details:

Avens L, Goshe LR, Pajuelo M, Bjorndal KA and others (2013) Complementary skeletochronology and stable isotope analyses offer new insight into juvenile loggerhead sea turtle oceanic stage duration and growth dynamics. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 491:235-251. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10454

DOI (Digital Object Identifier): 10.3354/meps10454

Keywords

Theme Keywords

Thesaurus Keyword
UNCONTROLLED
None Age
None Caretta caretta ·
None Life history
None Ontogenetic habitat shift
None protective species
None Skeletal growth marks
None turtle

Document Information

Document Type: Journal article
Format: Acrobat Portable Document Format
Status Code: Published

Support Roles

Author

CC ID: 209164
Date Effective From: 2012-05
Date Effective To:
Contact (Person): Avens, Larisa
Address: 101 Pivers Island Rd.
Beaufort, NC
Email Address: larisa.avens@noaa.gov
Phone: (252)728-8747
Fax: (252)728-8784
Contact Instructions:

Phone or email

Distribution Information

Distribution 1

CC ID: 1172049
Start Date: 2013
End Date: Present
Download URL: https://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2013/491/m491p235.pdf
Distributor:
File Name: m491p235.pdf
Description:

Download Of article itself as a pdf

File Type (Deprecated): PDF
Distribution Format: PDF - Adobe Portable Document Format
Compression: Uncompressed
Review Status: Chked Viruses Inapp Content

URLs

URL 1

CC ID: 209163
URL: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10454
URL Type:
Online Resource
Description:

Url of Journal extract.

Catalog Details

Catalog Item ID: 26033
GUID: gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:26033
Metadata Record Created By: Lee M Weinberger
Metadata Record Created: 2015-07-20 11:25+0000
Metadata Record Last Modified By: SysAdmin InPortAdmin
Metadata Record Last Modified: 2023-10-17 16:12+0000
Metadata Record Published: 2021-04-29
Owner Org: SEFSC
Metadata Publication Status: Published Externally
Do Not Publish?: N
Metadata Last Review Date: 2021-04-29
Metadata Review Frequency: 1 Year
Metadata Next Review Date: 2022-04-29