Earlier nesting by loggerhead sea turtles following sea surface warming

    Authors

    J. F. Weishampel; D. A. Bagley;L. M. Ehrhart

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Glob. Change Biol.

    Keywords

    egg laying; Florida; marine turtle; nesting behavior; sea surface; temperature; EGG-LAYING TRENDS; CLIMATE-CHANGE; MARINE TURTLES; CARETTA-CARETTA; TEMPERATURE; FLORIDA; INTERVALS; BEACH; Biodiversity Conservation; Ecology; Environmental Sciences

    Abstract

    The onset of spring, noted by the timing of wildlife migratory and breeding behaviors, has been occurring earlier over the past few decades. Here, we examine 15 years of loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, nesting patterns along a 40.5 km beach on Florida's Atlantic coast. This small section of beach is considered to be the most important nesting area for this threatened species in the western hemisphere. From 1989 to 2003, the annual number of nests fluctuated between 13 000 and 25 000 without a conspicuous trend; however, based on a regression analysis, the median nesting date became earlier by roughly 10 days. The Julian day of median nesting was significantly correlated with near-shore, May sea surface temperatures that warmed an average of 0.8degreesC over this period. This marine example from warm temperate/subtropical waters represents another response of nature to recent climate trends.

    Journal Title

    Global Change Biology

    Volume

    10

    Issue/Number

    8

    Publication Date

    1-1-2004

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    1424

    Last Page

    1427

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000222869600016

    ISSN

    1354-1013

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