Predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean
We present evidence of predator interactions with 8 juvenile loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta equipped with pop-up satellite archival transmitting tags (PSATs) following incidental capture in the Northwest Atlantic. Ingestion of PSATs occurred up to 5 mo after tagging and was identified by an...
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2021
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:670455e95c0044bcba0f651184f1b80c 2023-05-15T17:45:29+02:00 Predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean KE Hall MC James 2021-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01165 https://doaj.org/article/670455e95c0044bcba0f651184f1b80c EN eng Inter-Research https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v46/p279-291/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01165 https://doaj.org/article/670455e95c0044bcba0f651184f1b80c Endangered Species Research, Vol 46, Pp 279-291 (2021) Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01165 2022-12-31T04:10:46Z We present evidence of predator interactions with 8 juvenile loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta equipped with pop-up satellite archival transmitting tags (PSATs) following incidental capture in the Northwest Atlantic. Ingestion of PSATs occurred up to 5 mo after tagging and was identified by an abrupt change in depth distribution, a stabilization and/or increase in ambient temperature and a marked drop in light levels to near zero, with cessation of diel light level cycling. In some cases, following expulsion from the digestive tract of predators, positively buoyant PSATs descended to the sea floor or beyond the programmed release depth threshold (1800 m), indicating that they remained tethered to the indigestible carapaces of turtles and that the entire turtle was originally consumed. PSAT data, combined with the sudden termination of satellite uplinks from 2 loggerheads also equipped with platform transmitting terminals, provided additional evidence of whole-turtle predation. PSAT data indicated that both endothermic and ectothermic sharks ingested tags. Based on PSAT-logged temperature data, dive patterns and geographic distribution, the following shark species were considered as candidate predators: white, porbeagle, shortfin mako, tiger and blue. This study represents the first analysis of data collected by loggerhead turtle PSATs inside predators. The results expand the list of shark species known to prey on large juvenile loggerheads and point to the importance of acknowledging predation as an important source of mortality for loggerhead turtles in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Atlantic Porbeagle Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Endangered Species Research 46 279 291 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
spellingShingle |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 KE Hall MC James Predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
topic_facet |
Zoology QL1-991 Botany QK1-989 |
description |
We present evidence of predator interactions with 8 juvenile loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta equipped with pop-up satellite archival transmitting tags (PSATs) following incidental capture in the Northwest Atlantic. Ingestion of PSATs occurred up to 5 mo after tagging and was identified by an abrupt change in depth distribution, a stabilization and/or increase in ambient temperature and a marked drop in light levels to near zero, with cessation of diel light level cycling. In some cases, following expulsion from the digestive tract of predators, positively buoyant PSATs descended to the sea floor or beyond the programmed release depth threshold (1800 m), indicating that they remained tethered to the indigestible carapaces of turtles and that the entire turtle was originally consumed. PSAT data, combined with the sudden termination of satellite uplinks from 2 loggerheads also equipped with platform transmitting terminals, provided additional evidence of whole-turtle predation. PSAT data indicated that both endothermic and ectothermic sharks ingested tags. Based on PSAT-logged temperature data, dive patterns and geographic distribution, the following shark species were considered as candidate predators: white, porbeagle, shortfin mako, tiger and blue. This study represents the first analysis of data collected by loggerhead turtle PSATs inside predators. The results expand the list of shark species known to prey on large juvenile loggerheads and point to the importance of acknowledging predation as an important source of mortality for loggerhead turtles in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
KE Hall MC James |
author_facet |
KE Hall MC James |
author_sort |
KE Hall |
title |
Predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_short |
Predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_full |
Predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles Caretta caretta in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean |
title_sort |
predation of satellite-tagged juvenile loggerhead turtles caretta caretta in the northwest atlantic ocean |
publisher |
Inter-Research |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01165 https://doaj.org/article/670455e95c0044bcba0f651184f1b80c |
genre |
Northwest Atlantic Porbeagle |
genre_facet |
Northwest Atlantic Porbeagle |
op_source |
Endangered Species Research, Vol 46, Pp 279-291 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v46/p279-291/ https://doaj.org/toc/1863-5407 https://doaj.org/toc/1613-4796 1863-5407 1613-4796 doi:10.3354/esr01165 https://doaj.org/article/670455e95c0044bcba0f651184f1b80c |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr01165 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
46 |
container_start_page |
279 |
op_container_end_page |
291 |
_version_ |
1766148534594174976 |