Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T08:43:27.515Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Demography and foraging ecology of Chelonia mydas on tropical shallow reefs in Bahia, Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2015

Adriana Jardim ,
Milagros López-Mendilaharsu  and
Francisco Barros
Adriana Jardim*
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia Bentônica, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus Ondina, Salvador, BA 40170-290, Brazil Fundação Pró-TAMAR, Rua Rubens Guelli 134 sl. 307, CEP. 41815-135, Salvador, BA, Brazil
Milagros López-Mendilaharsu
Affiliation:
Fundação Pró-TAMAR, Rua Rubens Guelli 134 sl. 307, CEP. 41815-135, Salvador, BA, Brazil
Francisco Barros
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia Bentônica, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Campus Ondina, Salvador, BA 40170-290, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to:A. Jardim, Fundação Pró-TAMAR, Rua Rubens Guelli 134 sl. 307, CEP. 41815-135, Salvador, BA, Brazil email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Long-term tagging studies, particularly those that target life stages away from nesting beaches can provide important insights in key life history traits, which are essential for the effective management of endangered species. The coast of Bahia hosts important green turtle foraging areas, but information on demography, spatial use and foraging ecology in this region is lacking. Here, we (1) examined the size-class structure of green turtles in Bahia, (2) compared the size distribution from Bahia to other foraging aggregations in Brazil, and (3) studied the somatic growth dynamics. Additionally, we investigated the (4) diet, (5) habitat use and (6) activity patterns of green turtles along shallow reefs in Bahia. From 2009 to 2013, 322 green turtles were captured and 44 were recaptured between 7 and 1218 days after initial tagging. Curved carapace length varied from 32.9 to 122.5 cm. Mean annual growth rate was 3.03 ± 1.18 cm year−1. The diet of the turtles was mainly composed of red algae of the family Gelidiaceae, Gelidiellaceae and Cystocloniaceae. There was a positive relationship between the abundance of red algae and the number of turtle sightings, with a significant increase in foraging activity during late afternoon. This study highlights the importance of this area as a mixed foraging aggregation of juvenile and adult green turtles, and reveals that foraging grounds for this species in Brazil exhibit southern immature-dominated assemblages and northern mixed aggregations. Areas with high aggregation of green turtles comprising individuals from different life stages must be targeted for conservation management.

Keywords

Foraging areagreen turtlefood resourcesactivity patternsgrowth ratessize distributionBrazil
Type
Review Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 96 , Issue 6 , September 2016 , pp. 1295 - 1304
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Akesson, S., Broderick, A.C., Glen, F., Godley, B.J., Luschi, P., Papi, F. and Hays, G.C. (2003) Navigation by green turtles: which strategy do displaced adults use to find Ascension Island? Oikos 103, 363–372.Google Scholar
Almeida, A.P., Moreira, L.M.P., Bruno, S.C., Thomé, J.C.A., Martins, A.S., Bolten, A.B. and Bjorndal, K.A. (2011) Green turtle nesting on Trindade Island, Brazil: abundance, trends, and biometrics. Endangered Species Research 14, 193–201.Google Scholar
Arthur, K. and Balazs, G.H. (2008) A comparison of immature green turtles (Chelonia mydas) diets among seven sites in the main Hawaiian Islands. Pacific Science 62, 205–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Balazs, G.H. and Chaloupka, M. (2004) Spatial and temporal variability in somatic growth of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) resident in the Hawaiian Archipelago. Marine Biology 145, 1043–1059.Google Scholar
Balazs, G.H., Forsyth, R.G. and Kam, A.K.H. (1987) Preliminary assessment of habitat utilization by Hawaiian green turtles in their resident foraging pastures. U.S. Department of Commerce, NOAA-NMFS-SWFC 71, Honolulu, 107 pp.Google Scholar
Ballorain, K., Ciccione, S., Bourjea, J., Grizel, H., Enstipp, M. and Georges, J.Y. (2010) Habitat use of a multispecific seagrass meadow by green turtles Chelonia mydas at Mayotte Island. Marine Biology 157, 2581–2590.Google Scholar
Bass, A.L., Lagueux, C.J. and Bowen, B.W. (1998) Origin of green turtles, Chelonia mydas, at ‘‘sleeping rocks’’ off the northeast coast of Nicaragua. Copeia 1998, 1064–1069.Google Scholar
Bjorndal, K.A. (1980) Nutrition and grazing behavior of the green turtle Chelonia mydas . Marine Biology 56, 147–154.Google Scholar
Bjorndal, K.A. (1999) Priorities for research in foraging habitats. In Eckert, K.A., Bjorndal, K.A., Abreu-Grobois, F.A. and Donnely, M. (eds) Research and management techniques for the conservation of sea turtles. Washington, DC: IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group, Publication No. 4, 235 pp.Google Scholar
Bjorndal, K.A. and Bolten, A.B. (1988) Growth rates of immature green turtles Chelonia mydas on feeding grounds in the southern Bahamas. Copeia 1988, 555–564.Google Scholar
Bjorndal, K.A., Bolten, A. and Chaloupka, M.Y. (2000) Green turtle somatic growth model: evidence for density dependence. Ecological Applications 10, 269–282.Google Scholar
Bolker, B.M., Okuyama, T., Bjorndal, K.A. and Bolten, A.B. (2007) Incorporating multiple mixed stocks in mixed stock analysis: ‘many-to-many’ analyses. Molecular Ecology 16, 685–695.Google Scholar
Bolten, A.B. (2003) Variation in sea turtle life history patterns: neritic vs. oceanic developmental stages. In Lutz, P.L. and Musick, J.A. (eds) The biology of sea turtles, Volume II. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 243–257.Google Scholar
Bolten, A.B., Crowder, L.B., Dodd, M.G., MacPherson, S.L., Musick, J.A., Schroeder, B.A., Witherington, B.E., Long, K.J. and Snover, L.M. (2010) Quantifying multiple threats to endangered species: an example from loggerhead sea turtles. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9, 295–301.Google Scholar
Bresette, M.J., Witherington, B.E., Herren, R.M., Bagley, D.A., Gorham, J.C., Traxler, S.L., Crady, C.K. and Hardy, R. (2010) Size-class partitioning and herding in a foraging group of green turtles Chelonia mydas . Endangered Species Research 9, 105–116.Google Scholar
Carr, A., Carr, M.H. and Meylan, A.B. (1978) The ecology and migrations of sea turtles. 7. The West Caribbean green turtle colony. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 162, 1–46.Google Scholar
Carr, A. and Meylan, A.B. (1980) Evidence of passive migration of green turtle hatchlings in sargassum. Copeia 1980, 366–368.Google Scholar
Chaloupka, M. and Limpus, C. (2001) Trends in the abundance of sea turtles resident in southern Great Barrier Reef waters. Biological Conservation 102, 235–249.Google Scholar
Colman, L.P., Patrício, A.R.C., McGowan, A., Santos, A.J.B., Marcovaldi, M.Â., Bellini, C. and Godley, B.J. (2014) Long-term growth and survival dynamics of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at an isolated tropical archipelago in Brazil. Marine Biology. doi: 10.1007/s0022701425855.Google Scholar
Crouse, D.T., Crowder, L.B. and Caswell, H. (1987) A stage-based population model for loggerhead sea turtles and implications for conservation. Ecology 68, 1412–1423.Google Scholar
dos Santos, A.S., Santos, A.J.B., Gallo, B., Giffoni, B., Baptistotte, C., Lima, E.H.S.M., Sales, G., Lopez, G.G., Becher, H., de Castilho, J.C., Thomé, J.C.A., dei Marcovaldi, M.Â.A.G., de los M. L. Mendilaharsu, M., Barata, P.C.R. and Sforza, R. (2011) Plano de ação nacional para a Conservação das Tartarugas Marinhas. dei Marcovaldi, M.Â.A.G., and dos Santos, A.S. (eds). Brasília: Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, ICMBio, 120 pp. (Série Espécies Ameaçadas, 25).Google Scholar
Fuentes, M.M.P.B., Lawler, I.R. and Gyuris, E. (2006) Dietary preferences of juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) on a tropical reef flat. Wildlife Research 33, 671–678.Google Scholar
Gallo, B.M.G., Macedo, S., Giffoni, B.B., Becker, J.H. and Barata, P.C.R. (2006) Sea turtle conservation in Ubatuba, southeastern Brazil, a feeding area with incidental capture in coastal fisheries. Chelonian Conservation and Biology 5, 93–101.Google Scholar
Gilbert, E.I. (2005) Juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) foraging ecology: feeding selectivity and forage nutrient analysis. PhD dissertation. Antioch College, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL.Google Scholar
Green, D. (1993) Growth rates of wild immature green turtles in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. Journal of Herpetology 27, 338–341.Google Scholar
Guebert-Bartholo, F.M., Barletta, M., Costa, M.F. and Monteiro-Filho, E.L.A. (2011) Using gut contents to assess foraging patterns of juvenile green turtles Chelonia mydas in the Paranaguá Estuary, Brazil. Endangered Species Research 13, 131–143.Google Scholar
Hamann, M., Godfrey, M.H., Seminoff, J.A., Arthur, K., Barata, P. C. R., Bjorndal, K.A., Bolten, A.B., Broderick, A.C., Campbell, L.M., Carreras, C., Casale, P., Chaloupka, M., Chan, S.K.F., Coyne, M.S., Crowder, L.B., Diez, C.E., Dutton, P.H., Epperly, S.P., FitzSimmons, N.N., Formia, A., Girondot, M., Hays, G.C., Cheng, I.J., Kaska, Y., Lewison, R., Mortimer, J. A., Nichols, W.J., Reina, R.D., Shanker, K., Spotila, J.R., Tomás, J., Wallace, B.P., Work, T.M., Zbinden, J. and Godley, B.J. (2010) Global research priorities for sea turtles: informing management and conservation in the 21st century. Endangered Species Research 11, 245–269.Google Scholar
Hazel, J., Lawler, I.R. and Hamann, M. (2009) Diving at the shallow end: green turtle behaviour in near-shore foraging habitat. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 371, 84–92.Google Scholar
Heppell, S.S., Crowder, R.B., Crouse, D.T., Epperly, S.P. and Frazer, N.B. (2003) Population models for Atlantic loggerheads: past, present, and future. In Bolten, A.B. and Witherington, B.E. (eds) Loggerhead sea turtles. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institute Press, pp. 255–273.Google Scholar
Hirth, H.F. (1997) Synopsis of biological data on the green turtle Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus 1758). United States Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Report 97–1, 120 pp.Google Scholar
IUCN (2012) IUCN Red list of threatened species. http://www.iucnredlist.org Google Scholar
Jones, T.T. and Seminoff, J.A. (2013) Feeding biology: advances from field-based observations, physiological studies, and molecular techniques. In Wyneken, J., Musick, J. and Lohmann, K. (eds) The biology of sea turtles, Volume III. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, pp. 211–248.Google Scholar
Kubis, S., Chaloupka, M., Ehrart, L. and Bresette, M. (2009) Growth rates of juvenile green turtles Chelonia mydas from three ecologically distinct foraging habitats along the east central coast of Florida, USA. Marine Ecology Progress Series 389, 257–269.Google Scholar
Leão, Z.M.A.M. and Kikuchi, R.K.P. (2005) A relic coral fauna threatened by global changes and human activities, Eastern Brazil. Marine Pollution Bulletin 51, 599–611.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lima, E.H.S.M., Felix, M.L., Klefasz, A., Melo, M.T.D. and Godfrey, M.H. (2012) From Suriname to Ceará. Green turtle found dead on the coast of Ceará, Brazil. Marine Turtle Newsletter 135, 18–19.Google Scholar
Limpus, C.J., Couper, P.J. and Read, M.A. (1994) The green turtle Chelonia mydas in Queensland: population structure in a warm temperate feeding area. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 35, 139–154.Google Scholar
López-Castro, M.C., Koch, V., Loza, A.M. and Nichols, W.J. (2010) Long-term monitoring of black turtles Chelonia mydas at coastal foraging areas off the Baja California Peninsula. Endangered Species Research 11, 35–45.Google Scholar
López-Mendilaharsu, M., Estrades, A., Caraccio, M.A., Calvo, V., Hernández, M. and Quirici, V. (2006) Biología, ecología y etología de las tortugas marinas en la zona costera uruguaya. In Menafra, R., Rodríguez-Gallego, L., Scarabino, F. and Conde, D. (eds) Bases para la conservación y el manejo de la costa uruguaya. Montevideo: Vida Silvestre Uruguay, 259–269.Google Scholar
López-Mendilaharsu, M., Gardner, S.C., Seminoff, J.Á. and Rodriguez, R.R. (2005) Identifying critical foraging habitats of the Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) along the Pacific coast of the Baja California peninsula. Mexico. Aquatic Conservation 15, 259–269.Google Scholar
Magris, R.A., Mills, M., Fuentes, M.M.P.B. and Pressey, R.L. (2013) Analysis of progress towards a comprehensive system of Marine Protected Areas in Brazil. Natureza & Conservação 11, 1–7.Google Scholar
Maia-Nogueira, R., Medeiros, D.V., Jardim, A., Nunes, J.A.C.C. and Sampaio, C.L.S. (2010) The banded butterfly, Chaetodon striatus (Chaetodontidae) cleaning the green turtle, Chelonia mydas (Cheloniidae). Marine Biodiversity Records 3: e116. doi: 10.1017/S1755267210001041.Google Scholar
McMichael, E., Seminoff, J. and Carthy, R. (2008) Growth rates of wild green turtles, Chelonia mydas, at a temperate foraging habitat in the northern Gulf of Mexico: assessing short-term effects of cold-stunning on growth. Journal of Natural History 42, 2793–2807.Google Scholar
McNeill, J.B., Epperly, S.P., Avens, L., Snover, M.L. and Taylor, J.C. (2008) Growth rates of loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) from the Western North Atlantic. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 3, 273–281.Google Scholar
Mendonça, M.T. (1983) Movements and feeding ecology of immature green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in a Florida Lagoon. Copeia 3, 1013–1025.Google Scholar
Meurer, B.C., Pereira, G.F., Pereira, A.O., Fajardo, D.H. and Oliveira, M. (2008) Ciclo circadiano da tartaruga verde, Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus. 1758) nos costões rochosos da praia de Araçatiba. Ilha Grande. Angra dos Reis. Rio de Janeiro. In III Congresso Brasileiro de Oceanografia e I Congresso Ibero-Americano de Oceanografia- I CIAO. Fortaleza-CE.Google Scholar
Meylan, P.A., Meylan, A.B. and Gray, J.A. (2011) The ecology and migrations of sea turtles – tests of the developmental hypothesis. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 357, 1–70.Google Scholar
Miller, J.D. (1997) Reproduction in sea turtles. In Lutz, P.L. and Musick, J.A. (eds) The biology of sea turtles. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Moraes, S.S. and Machado, A.J. (2003) Avaliação das condições hidrodinâmicas de dois recifes costeiros do Litoral Norte do estado da Bahia. Revista Brasileira de Geociências 33, 201–210.Google Scholar
Mortimer, J.A. (1981) The feeding ecology of the West Caribbean green turtle (Chelonia mydas) in Nicaragua. Biotropica 13, 49–58.Google Scholar
Musick, J.A. and Limpus, C.J. (1997) Habitat utilization and migration in juvenile sea turtles. In Lutz, P.L. and Musick, J.A. (eds) The biology of sea turtles, Volume 1. Washington, DC: CRC Press, pp. 137–163.Google Scholar
Nagaoka, S.M., Bondiolli, A.C.V. and de A. Monteiro-Filho, E.L. (2008) Sea turtle bycatch by cerco-fixo in Cananéia Lagoon Estuarine complex, São Paulo, Brazil. Marine Turtle Newsletter 119, 4–6.Google Scholar
National Research Council (U.S.) (1990) Decline of the sea turtles: causes and prevention. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 259 pp.Google Scholar
Ogden, J.C. and Lobel, O.S. (1978) The role of herbivorous fishes and urchins in coral reef communities. Environmental Biology of Fishes 3, 49–63.Google Scholar
Ogden, J.C., Robinson, L., Whitlock, K., Daganhardt, H. and Cebula, R. (1983) Diel foraging patterns in juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas L.) in St. Croix United States Virgin Islands. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 66, 199–205.Google Scholar
Oksanen, J., Blanchet, F.G., Kindt, R., Legendre, P., Minchin, P.R., O'Hara, R.B., Simpson, G.L., Solymos, P., Henry, M., Stevens, H. and Wagner, H. (2011) vegan: Community Ecology Package. R package version 1.17–6. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=vegan Google Scholar
Okuyama, J., Nakajima, K., Noda, T., Kimura, S., Kamihata, H., Kobayashi, M., Arai, N., Kagawa, S., Kawabata, Y. and Yamada, H. (2013) Ethogram of immature green turtles: behavioral strategies for somatic growth in large marine herbivores. PLoS ONE 8, e65783. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0065783.Google Scholar
Papi, F., Luschi, P., Crosio, E. and Hughes, G.R. (1997) Satellite tracking experiments on the navigational ability and migratory behaviour of the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta . Marine Biology 129, 215–220.Google Scholar
R Development Core Team (2011) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing. ISBN 3-900051-07-0, http//www.R-project.org/ Google Scholar
Reisser, J., Proietti, M., Sazima, I., Kinas, P., Horta, P. and Secchi, E. (2013) Feeding ecology of the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) at rocky reefs in western South Atlantic. Marine Biology 160, 3169–3179.Google Scholar
Sazima, C., Grossman, A., Bellini, C. and Sazima, I. (2004) The moving gardens: reef fishes grazing, cleaning, and following green turtles in SW Atlantic. Cybium 28, 47–53.Google Scholar
Sazima, I. and Sazima, M. (1983) Aspectos de comportamento alimentar e dieta da tartaruga marinha, Chelonia mydas, no litoral norte paulista. Boletim do Instituto Oceanográfico S. Paulo 32, 199–203.Google Scholar
Schofield, G., Hobson, V.J., Lilley, M.K.S., Katselidis, K.A., Bishop, C.M., Brown, P. and Hays, G.C. (2010) Inter-annual variability in the home range of breeding turtles: implications for current and future conservation management. Biological Conservation 143, 722–730.Google Scholar
Seminoff, J.A. and Jones, T.T. (2006) Diel movements and activity ranges of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at a temperate foraging area in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 1, 81–86.Google Scholar
Seminoff, J.A., Resendiz, A. and Nichols, W.J. (2002a) Home range of green turtles Chelonia mydas at a coastal foraging area in the Gulf of California. Mexico. Marine Ecology Progress Series 242, 253–265.Google Scholar
Seminoff, J.A., Resendiz, A., Nichols, W.J. and Jones, T.T. (2002b) Growth rates of wild green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at a temperate foraging habitat in the Gulf of California, México. Copeia 3, 610–617.Google Scholar
Taquet, C., Taquet, M., Dempster, T., Soria, M., Ciccione, S., Roos, D. and Dagorn, L. (2006) Foraging of the green sea turtle Chelonia mydas on seagrass beds at Mayotte Island (Indian Ocean) determined by acoustic transmitters. Marine Ecology Progress Series 306, 295–302.Google Scholar
Teas, W.G. (1993) Species composition and size class distribution of marine turtle strandings on the Gulf of Mexico and south-east United States coasts, 1985–1991. NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC 315, 43 pp.Google Scholar
Torezani, E., Baptistotte, C., Mendes, S.L. and Barata, P.C.R. (2010) Juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the effluent discharge channel of a steel plant, Espírito Santo, Brazil, 2000–2006. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 90, 233–246.Google Scholar
Van Dam, R.P. (1999) Measuring sea turtle growth. In Eckert, K.A., Bjorndal, K.A., Abreu-Grobois, F.A. and Donnely, M. (eds) Priorities for research in foraging habitats. Research and management techniques for the conservation of sea turtles. Washington, DC: IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group, Publication No. 4, 235 pp.Google Scholar
Wheeler, B. (2010) lmPerm: Permutation tests for linear models. R package version 1.1–2. http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=lmPerm Google Scholar
Supplementary material: Image

Jardim supplementary material

Figure S1

Download Jardim supplementary material(Image)
Image 988.3 KB
Supplementary material: Image

Jardim supplementary material

Figure S1

Download Jardim supplementary material(Image)
Image 732.7 KB
Supplementary material: File

Jardim supplementary material

Tables Captions

Download Jardim supplementary material(File)
File 12.6 KB
Supplementary material: File

Jardim supplementary material

Tables S1-S4

Download Jardim supplementary material(File)
File 29.8 KB