Changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species
With some taxa, a reduction in the mean size of individuals may reflect over-harvesting and/or trophy hunting. However, we show that in sea turtles, a reduction in the mean size of breeding individuals may be part of the good news story of an expanding population. We describe a 70-fold increase in a...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 2024-09-15T18:23:35+00:00 Changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species Hays, Graeme C. Taxonera, Albert Renom, Berta Fairweather, Kirsten Lopes, Anice Cozens, Jacquie Laloë, Jacques-Olivier 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 289, issue 1976 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 journal-article 2022 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 2024-08-12T04:27:37Z With some taxa, a reduction in the mean size of individuals may reflect over-harvesting and/or trophy hunting. However, we show that in sea turtles, a reduction in the mean size of breeding individuals may be part of the good news story of an expanding population. We describe a 70-fold increase in annual nest numbers on the island of Sal (Cape Verde, North Atlantic) between 2008 and 2020 (from 506 to 35 507 nests), making this now one of the largest loggerhead ( Caretta caretta ) nesting aggregations in the world. We use 20 128 measurements of the size of nesting turtles to show that their mean annual size has decreased by about 2.4 cm, from 83.2 to 80.8 cm. This decrease in the mean size of nesting turtles was not caused by the removal of larger turtles, for example by selective harvesting. Rather we develop a theoretical model to show than this decrease in mean size can be explained by an influx of first-time nesters, combined with a decrease in the size of those first-time nesters over time. A reduction in mean size of nesting turtles has been reported across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and may be a common feature of population recoveries in sea turtles. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic The Royal Society Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 289 1976 |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
With some taxa, a reduction in the mean size of individuals may reflect over-harvesting and/or trophy hunting. However, we show that in sea turtles, a reduction in the mean size of breeding individuals may be part of the good news story of an expanding population. We describe a 70-fold increase in annual nest numbers on the island of Sal (Cape Verde, North Atlantic) between 2008 and 2020 (from 506 to 35 507 nests), making this now one of the largest loggerhead ( Caretta caretta ) nesting aggregations in the world. We use 20 128 measurements of the size of nesting turtles to show that their mean annual size has decreased by about 2.4 cm, from 83.2 to 80.8 cm. This decrease in the mean size of nesting turtles was not caused by the removal of larger turtles, for example by selective harvesting. Rather we develop a theoretical model to show than this decrease in mean size can be explained by an influx of first-time nesters, combined with a decrease in the size of those first-time nesters over time. A reduction in mean size of nesting turtles has been reported across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and may be a common feature of population recoveries in sea turtles. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hays, Graeme C. Taxonera, Albert Renom, Berta Fairweather, Kirsten Lopes, Anice Cozens, Jacquie Laloë, Jacques-Olivier |
spellingShingle |
Hays, Graeme C. Taxonera, Albert Renom, Berta Fairweather, Kirsten Lopes, Anice Cozens, Jacquie Laloë, Jacques-Olivier Changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species |
author_facet |
Hays, Graeme C. Taxonera, Albert Renom, Berta Fairweather, Kirsten Lopes, Anice Cozens, Jacquie Laloë, Jacques-Olivier |
author_sort |
Hays, Graeme C. |
title |
Changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species |
title_short |
Changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species |
title_full |
Changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species |
title_fullStr |
Changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species |
title_full_unstemmed |
Changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species |
title_sort |
changes in mean body size in an expanding population of a threatened species |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 289, issue 1976 ISSN 0962-8452 1471-2954 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0696 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
289 |
container_issue |
1976 |
_version_ |
1810463827214467072 |