Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018)
With over a century of records, we present a detailed analysis of the spatial and temporal occurrence of marine turtle sightings and strandings in the UK and Ireland between 1910 and 2018. Records of hard-shell turtles, including loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta, N = 240) and Kemp's ridley t...
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Cambridge University Press
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ftplymouthml:oai:plymsea.ac.uk:9065 2023-05-15T17:25:20+02:00 Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018) Botterell, ZLR Penrose, R Witt, MJ Godley, BJ 2020-09-08 text http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9065/ http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9065/1/Botterell%20et%20al.%202020%20UK%20Turtles.pdf https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000843 en eng Cambridge University Press http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9065/1/Botterell%20et%20al.%202020%20UK%20Turtles.pdf Botterell, ZLR; Penrose, R; Witt, MJ; Godley, BJ. 2020 Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000843 <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000843> cc_by_4 CC-BY Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2020 ftplymouthml https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000843 2022-09-13T05:49:48Z With over a century of records, we present a detailed analysis of the spatial and temporal occurrence of marine turtle sightings and strandings in the UK and Ireland between 1910 and 2018. Records of hard-shell turtles, including loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta, N = 240) and Kemp's ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii, N = 61), have significantly increased over time. However, in the most recent years there has been a notable decrease in records. The majority of records of hard-shell turtles were juveniles and occurred in the boreal winter months when the waters are coolest in the North-east Atlantic. They generally occurred on the western aspects of the UK and Ireland highlighting a pattern of decreasing records with increasing latitude, supporting previous suggestions that juvenile turtles arrive in these waters via the North Atlantic current systems. Similarly, the majority of the strandings and sightings of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea, N = 1683) occurred on the western aspects of the UK and the entirety of Ireland's coastline. In contrast to hard-shell turtles, leatherback turtles were most commonly recorded in the boreal summer months with the majority of strandings being adult sized, of which there has been a recent decrease in annual records. The cause of the recent annual decreases in turtle strandings and sightings across all three species is unclear; however, changes to overall population abundance, prey availability, anthropogenic threats and variable reporting effort could all contribute. Our results provide a valuable reference point to assess species range modification due to climate change, identify possible evidence of anthropogenic threats and to assess the future trajectory of marine turtle populations in the North Atlantic. Article in Journal/Newspaper north atlantic current North Atlantic North East Atlantic Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 100 6 869 877 |
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Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) |
op_collection_id |
ftplymouthml |
language |
English |
description |
With over a century of records, we present a detailed analysis of the spatial and temporal occurrence of marine turtle sightings and strandings in the UK and Ireland between 1910 and 2018. Records of hard-shell turtles, including loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta, N = 240) and Kemp's ridley turtles (Lepidochelys kempii, N = 61), have significantly increased over time. However, in the most recent years there has been a notable decrease in records. The majority of records of hard-shell turtles were juveniles and occurred in the boreal winter months when the waters are coolest in the North-east Atlantic. They generally occurred on the western aspects of the UK and Ireland highlighting a pattern of decreasing records with increasing latitude, supporting previous suggestions that juvenile turtles arrive in these waters via the North Atlantic current systems. Similarly, the majority of the strandings and sightings of leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea, N = 1683) occurred on the western aspects of the UK and the entirety of Ireland's coastline. In contrast to hard-shell turtles, leatherback turtles were most commonly recorded in the boreal summer months with the majority of strandings being adult sized, of which there has been a recent decrease in annual records. The cause of the recent annual decreases in turtle strandings and sightings across all three species is unclear; however, changes to overall population abundance, prey availability, anthropogenic threats and variable reporting effort could all contribute. Our results provide a valuable reference point to assess species range modification due to climate change, identify possible evidence of anthropogenic threats and to assess the future trajectory of marine turtle populations in the North Atlantic. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Botterell, ZLR Penrose, R Witt, MJ Godley, BJ |
spellingShingle |
Botterell, ZLR Penrose, R Witt, MJ Godley, BJ Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018) |
author_facet |
Botterell, ZLR Penrose, R Witt, MJ Godley, BJ |
author_sort |
Botterell, ZLR |
title |
Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018) |
title_short |
Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018) |
title_full |
Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018) |
title_fullStr |
Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018) |
title_sort |
long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the uk and ireland (1910–2018) |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9065/ http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9065/1/Botterell%20et%20al.%202020%20UK%20Turtles.pdf https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000843 |
genre |
north atlantic current North Atlantic North East Atlantic |
genre_facet |
north atlantic current North Atlantic North East Atlantic |
op_relation |
http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/9065/1/Botterell%20et%20al.%202020%20UK%20Turtles.pdf Botterell, ZLR; Penrose, R; Witt, MJ; Godley, BJ. 2020 Long-term insights into marine turtle sightings, strandings and captures around the UK and Ireland (1910–2018). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000843 <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000843> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025315420000843 |
container_title |
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom |
container_volume |
100 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
869 |
op_container_end_page |
877 |
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1766116726701817856 |