Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts
Every fall, juvenile sea turtles in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean are threatened by rapidly declining water temperatures. When sea turtles become hypothermic, or cold-stunned, they lose mobility—either at the surface, subsurface, or the bottom of the water column—and eventually strand at the shorelin...
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crpeerj:10.7717/peerj.15866 2024-06-02T08:12:16+00:00 Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts Page, Felicia M. Manning, James Howard, Lesley Healey, Ryan Karraker, Nancy E. National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Sophie Danforth Conservation Biology Fund University of Rhode Island Enhancement of Graduate Research Award 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15866 https://peerj.com/articles/15866.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/15866.xml https://peerj.com/articles/15866.html en eng PeerJ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PeerJ volume 11, page e15866 ISSN 2167-8359 journal-article 2023 crpeerj https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15866 2024-05-07T14:14:11Z Every fall, juvenile sea turtles in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean are threatened by rapidly declining water temperatures. When sea turtles become hypothermic, or cold-stunned, they lose mobility—either at the surface, subsurface, or the bottom of the water column—and eventually strand at the shoreline where rescue teams associated with the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network may search for them. Understanding the effects of ocean currents on the potential stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles is essential to better understand stranding hotspots and increase the probability of successful discovery and recovery of turtles before they die in the cold temperatures. Traditional oceanographic drifters—instruments used to track currents—have been used to examine relationships between current and stranding locations in Cape Cod Bay, but these drifters are not representative of sea turtle morphology and do not assess how bottom currents affect stranding locations. To address these knowledge gaps, we designed new drifters that represent the shape and dimensions of sea turtles—one that can float at the surface and one that sinks to the bottom—to track both surface and bottom currents in Cape Cod Bay. We found a marked difference between the trajectories of our new drifter models and those that were previously used for similar research. These findings bring us one step closer to identifying the transport pathways for cold-stunned sea turtles and optimizing cold-stunned sea turtle search and rescue efforts in Cape Cod. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Atlantic PeerJ Publishing PeerJ 11 e15866 |
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Every fall, juvenile sea turtles in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean are threatened by rapidly declining water temperatures. When sea turtles become hypothermic, or cold-stunned, they lose mobility—either at the surface, subsurface, or the bottom of the water column—and eventually strand at the shoreline where rescue teams associated with the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network may search for them. Understanding the effects of ocean currents on the potential stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles is essential to better understand stranding hotspots and increase the probability of successful discovery and recovery of turtles before they die in the cold temperatures. Traditional oceanographic drifters—instruments used to track currents—have been used to examine relationships between current and stranding locations in Cape Cod Bay, but these drifters are not representative of sea turtle morphology and do not assess how bottom currents affect stranding locations. To address these knowledge gaps, we designed new drifters that represent the shape and dimensions of sea turtles—one that can float at the surface and one that sinks to the bottom—to track both surface and bottom currents in Cape Cod Bay. We found a marked difference between the trajectories of our new drifter models and those that were previously used for similar research. These findings bring us one step closer to identifying the transport pathways for cold-stunned sea turtles and optimizing cold-stunned sea turtle search and rescue efforts in Cape Cod. |
author2 |
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program Sophie Danforth Conservation Biology Fund University of Rhode Island Enhancement of Graduate Research Award |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Page, Felicia M. Manning, James Howard, Lesley Healey, Ryan Karraker, Nancy E. |
spellingShingle |
Page, Felicia M. Manning, James Howard, Lesley Healey, Ryan Karraker, Nancy E. Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts |
author_facet |
Page, Felicia M. Manning, James Howard, Lesley Healey, Ryan Karraker, Nancy E. |
author_sort |
Page, Felicia M. |
title |
Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts |
title_short |
Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts |
title_full |
Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts |
title_fullStr |
Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts |
title_sort |
developing bottom drifters to better understand the stranding locations of cold-stunned sea turtles in cape cod bay, massachusetts |
publisher |
PeerJ |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15866 https://peerj.com/articles/15866.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/15866.xml https://peerj.com/articles/15866.html |
genre |
Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northwest Atlantic |
op_source |
PeerJ volume 11, page e15866 ISSN 2167-8359 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.15866 |
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PeerJ |
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11 |
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e15866 |
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1800758650911850496 |