Keywords

Beach nourishment, dune restoration, beach restoration, loggerhead, green turtle, nesting success, reproductive success, nesting cues, nest site selection

Abstract

Artificial beach nourishment, the most common method to mitigate coastal erosion in the United States, is also considered the most ecologically friendly alternative for shoreline stabilization. However, this habitat alteration has the potential to impact nesting marine turtles and developing hatchlings. The first objective of this study was to determine how nourishing beaches with two different design templates affects loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting success, the ratio of nests to the total number of nests and non-nesting emergences, and reproductive success, the ratio of hatched and emerged hatchlings to the total number of eggs deposited. Two types of restoration designs exist along the southern Brevard County, FL coastline, which supports some of the highest density loggerhead and green turtle nesting worldwide. Since 2005, approximately 35 kilometers of beach have undergone 1) fullscale restoration (typically called nourishment), where sand was added above and below the mean high tide line (2005, 2010) or 2) dune restoration, where sand was placed on the dune (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009). To quantify the effects of these restoration types, we used a Before-After-ControlImpact-Paired Series (BACIPS) model, which tests for significance between the difference in nesting success rates at the impact (engineered) and control sites (natural beach) before and after restoration ( ). For loggerheads, there was a significant difference in after dune restoration during the years of construction (2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009; p

Notes

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Graduation Date

2012

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Weishampel, John

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Biology

Degree Program

Biology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0004332

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004332

Language

English

Release Date

May 2013

Length of Campus-only Access

1 year

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences, Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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