{"title":"Unveiling loggerhead turtles size decline at a major Brazilian nesting ground","authors":"","doi":"10.1007/s00227-024-04408-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<h3>Abstract</h3> <p>Brazil’s second-largest reproductive colony of loggerhead turtles (<em>Caretta caretta</em>) has a long history of overexploitation, with its temporal ecological dynamics still unknown. This study investigates changes in the average size of females and post-maturity somatic growth rates in marked and recaptured loggerhead turtles at a breeding site over a 33-year period (1982–2014). Loggerhead curved carapace length (CCL) was evaluated over the course of the study using a generalized additive model (GAM) with a Gaussian family distribution and time smoothed. Includes the nesting year and the CCL for a total of 2.359 female loggerhead turtles. The overall average length of females was 99.4 cm ± 5.8 (mean ± SD). The results suggest that the CCL of females in the nesting area is decreasing. From 1982 to 1998, the mean CCL was 102.6 cm; from 1999 to 2014, the average length was 98.7 cm. There were no statistically significant differences in post-maturity growth rates among recaptured females, supporting the hypothesis of increased recruitment. The GAM results showed significant differences in the size structure changes of reproductive site females over time. The study highlights how a population parameter can be influenced by long-term conservation of feeding and nesting areas for sea turtles, resulting in a higher number of recruits. The curved carapace length serves as an important metric to describe population changes and raise awareness about future conservation challenges.</p>","PeriodicalId":18365,"journal":{"name":"Marine Biology","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Marine Biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-024-04408-3","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MARINE & FRESHWATER BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Brazil’s second-largest reproductive colony of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) has a long history of overexploitation, with its temporal ecological dynamics still unknown. This study investigates changes in the average size of females and post-maturity somatic growth rates in marked and recaptured loggerhead turtles at a breeding site over a 33-year period (1982–2014). Loggerhead curved carapace length (CCL) was evaluated over the course of the study using a generalized additive model (GAM) with a Gaussian family distribution and time smoothed. Includes the nesting year and the CCL for a total of 2.359 female loggerhead turtles. The overall average length of females was 99.4 cm ± 5.8 (mean ± SD). The results suggest that the CCL of females in the nesting area is decreasing. From 1982 to 1998, the mean CCL was 102.6 cm; from 1999 to 2014, the average length was 98.7 cm. There were no statistically significant differences in post-maturity growth rates among recaptured females, supporting the hypothesis of increased recruitment. The GAM results showed significant differences in the size structure changes of reproductive site females over time. The study highlights how a population parameter can be influenced by long-term conservation of feeding and nesting areas for sea turtles, resulting in a higher number of recruits. The curved carapace length serves as an important metric to describe population changes and raise awareness about future conservation challenges.
期刊介绍：
Marine Biology publishes original and internationally significant contributions from all fields of marine biology. Special emphasis is given to articles which promote the understanding of life in the sea, organism-environment interactions, interactions between organisms, and the functioning of the marine biosphere.
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