Movement Patterns for a Critically Endangered Species, the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Linked to Foraging Success and Population Status
Foraging success for pelagic vertebrates may be revealed by horizontal and vertical movement patterns. We show markedly different patterns for leatherback turtles in the North Atlantic versus Eastern Pacific, which feed on gelatinous zooplankton that are only occasionally found in high densities. In...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3354004 2023-05-15T17:30:25+02:00 Movement Patterns for a Critically Endangered Species, the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Linked to Foraging Success and Population Status Bailey, Helen Fossette, Sabrina Bograd, Steven J. Shillinger, George L. Swithenbank, Alan M. Georges, Jean-Yves Gaspar, Philippe Strömberg, K. H. Patrik Paladino, Frank V. Spotila, James R. Block, Barbara A. Hays, Graeme C. 2012-05-16 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3354004 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22615767 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036401 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3354004 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22615767 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036401 Bailey et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2012 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036401 2013-09-04T07:21:31Z Foraging success for pelagic vertebrates may be revealed by horizontal and vertical movement patterns. We show markedly different patterns for leatherback turtles in the North Atlantic versus Eastern Pacific, which feed on gelatinous zooplankton that are only occasionally found in high densities. In the Atlantic, travel speed was characterized by two modes, indicative of high foraging success at low speeds (<15 km d−1) and transit at high speeds (20–45 km d−1). Only a single mode was evident in the Pacific, which occurred at speeds of 21 km d−1 indicative of transit. The mean dive depth was more variable in relation to latitude but closer to the mean annual depth of the thermocline and nutricline for North Atlantic than Eastern Pacific turtles. The most parsimonious explanation for these findings is that Eastern Pacific turtles rarely achieve high foraging success. This is the first support for foraging behaviour differences between populations of this critically endangered species and suggests that longer periods searching for prey may be hindering population recovery in the Pacific while aiding population maintenance in the Atlantic. Text North Atlantic PubMed Central (PMC) Pacific PLoS ONE 7 5 e36401 |
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Research Article Bailey, Helen Fossette, Sabrina Bograd, Steven J. Shillinger, George L. Swithenbank, Alan M. Georges, Jean-Yves Gaspar, Philippe Strömberg, K. H. Patrik Paladino, Frank V. Spotila, James R. Block, Barbara A. Hays, Graeme C. Movement Patterns for a Critically Endangered Species, the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Linked to Foraging Success and Population Status |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
Foraging success for pelagic vertebrates may be revealed by horizontal and vertical movement patterns. We show markedly different patterns for leatherback turtles in the North Atlantic versus Eastern Pacific, which feed on gelatinous zooplankton that are only occasionally found in high densities. In the Atlantic, travel speed was characterized by two modes, indicative of high foraging success at low speeds (<15 km d−1) and transit at high speeds (20–45 km d−1). Only a single mode was evident in the Pacific, which occurred at speeds of 21 km d−1 indicative of transit. The mean dive depth was more variable in relation to latitude but closer to the mean annual depth of the thermocline and nutricline for North Atlantic than Eastern Pacific turtles. The most parsimonious explanation for these findings is that Eastern Pacific turtles rarely achieve high foraging success. This is the first support for foraging behaviour differences between populations of this critically endangered species and suggests that longer periods searching for prey may be hindering population recovery in the Pacific while aiding population maintenance in the Atlantic. |
format |
Text |
author |
Bailey, Helen Fossette, Sabrina Bograd, Steven J. Shillinger, George L. Swithenbank, Alan M. Georges, Jean-Yves Gaspar, Philippe Strömberg, K. H. Patrik Paladino, Frank V. Spotila, James R. Block, Barbara A. Hays, Graeme C. |
author_facet |
Bailey, Helen Fossette, Sabrina Bograd, Steven J. Shillinger, George L. Swithenbank, Alan M. Georges, Jean-Yves Gaspar, Philippe Strömberg, K. H. Patrik Paladino, Frank V. Spotila, James R. Block, Barbara A. Hays, Graeme C. |
author_sort |
Bailey, Helen |
title |
Movement Patterns for a Critically Endangered Species, the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Linked to Foraging Success and Population Status |
title_short |
Movement Patterns for a Critically Endangered Species, the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Linked to Foraging Success and Population Status |
title_full |
Movement Patterns for a Critically Endangered Species, the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Linked to Foraging Success and Population Status |
title_fullStr |
Movement Patterns for a Critically Endangered Species, the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Linked to Foraging Success and Population Status |
title_full_unstemmed |
Movement Patterns for a Critically Endangered Species, the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), Linked to Foraging Success and Population Status |
title_sort |
movement patterns for a critically endangered species, the leatherback turtle (dermochelys coriacea), linked to foraging success and population status |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3354004 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22615767 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036401 |
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Pacific |
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Pacific |
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North Atlantic |
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North Atlantic |
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3354004 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22615767 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036401 |
op_rights |
Bailey et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0036401 |
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PLoS ONE |
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7 |
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5 |
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e36401 |
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