Orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre
Leatherback sea turtles ( Dermochelys coriacea ) travel thousands of kilometres between temperate feeding and tropical breeding/over-wintering grounds, with adult turtles able to pinpoint specific nesting beaches after multi-year absences. Their extensive migrations often occur in oceanic habitat wh...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 2024-06-02T08:11:10+00:00 Orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre Dodge, Kara L. Galuardi, Benjamin Lutcavage, Molly E. 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 282, issue 1804, page 20143129 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2015 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 2024-05-07T14:16:27Z Leatherback sea turtles ( Dermochelys coriacea ) travel thousands of kilometres between temperate feeding and tropical breeding/over-wintering grounds, with adult turtles able to pinpoint specific nesting beaches after multi-year absences. Their extensive migrations often occur in oceanic habitat where limited known sensory information is available to aid in orientation. Here, we examined the migratory orientation of adult male, adult female and subadult leatherbacks during their open-ocean movements within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre by analysing satellite-derived tracks from fifteen individuals over a 2-year period. To determine the turtles' true headings, we corrected the reconstructed tracks for current drift and found negligible differences between current-corrected and observed tracks within the gyre. Individual leatherback headings were remarkably consistent throughout the subtropical gyre, with turtles significantly oriented to the south-southeast. Adult leatherbacks of both sexes maintained similar mean headings and showed greater orientation precision overall. The consistent headings maintained by adult and subadult leatherbacks within the gyre suggest use of a common compass sense. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 282 1804 20143129 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Leatherback sea turtles ( Dermochelys coriacea ) travel thousands of kilometres between temperate feeding and tropical breeding/over-wintering grounds, with adult turtles able to pinpoint specific nesting beaches after multi-year absences. Their extensive migrations often occur in oceanic habitat where limited known sensory information is available to aid in orientation. Here, we examined the migratory orientation of adult male, adult female and subadult leatherbacks during their open-ocean movements within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre by analysing satellite-derived tracks from fifteen individuals over a 2-year period. To determine the turtles' true headings, we corrected the reconstructed tracks for current drift and found negligible differences between current-corrected and observed tracks within the gyre. Individual leatherback headings were remarkably consistent throughout the subtropical gyre, with turtles significantly oriented to the south-southeast. Adult leatherbacks of both sexes maintained similar mean headings and showed greater orientation precision overall. The consistent headings maintained by adult and subadult leatherbacks within the gyre suggest use of a common compass sense. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dodge, Kara L. Galuardi, Benjamin Lutcavage, Molly E. |
spellingShingle |
Dodge, Kara L. Galuardi, Benjamin Lutcavage, Molly E. Orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre |
author_facet |
Dodge, Kara L. Galuardi, Benjamin Lutcavage, Molly E. |
author_sort |
Dodge, Kara L. |
title |
Orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre |
title_short |
Orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre |
title_full |
Orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre |
title_fullStr |
Orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre |
title_full_unstemmed |
Orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the North Atlantic subtropical gyre |
title_sort |
orientation behaviour of leatherback sea turtles within the north atlantic subtropical gyre |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 282, issue 1804, page 20143129 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.3129 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
282 |
container_issue |
1804 |
container_start_page |
20143129 |
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1800757219427352576 |