Title

Developing a common currency for stable isotope analyses of nesting marine turtles

Authors

Authors

S. A. Ceriani; J. D. Roth; L. M. Ehrhart; P. F. Quintana-Ascencio;J. F. Weishampel

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Mar. Biol.

Keywords

FEEDING HABITAT USE; SEA-TURTLES; LOGGERHEAD TURTLES; CARETTA-CARETTA; LEATHERBACK TURTLES; NEOTROPICAL MIGRANT; MIGRATION PATTERNS; CHELONIA-MYDAS; LIFE-HISTORY; DISCRIMINATION; Marine & Freshwater Biology

Abstract

Understanding geospatial linkages is critical to the development of appropriate management and conservation strategies for migratory species. Stable isotope analysis is a powerful tool that is performed routinely across taxa to unravel migratory connectivity. Marine turtles are a highly migratory and widely distributed taxon, but are largely studied at breeding areas. Isotopic values of several slow turnover rate tissues have been used to identify often distant foraging areas. However, as more isotopic data from various tissues become available, the relationships between tissues need to be calculated to permit meta-analyses to elucidate isotopic patterns across broader spatiotemporal scales. We used several commonly collected tissues (blood, skin, fresh eggs and unhatched eggs) collected simultaneously from loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) to develop a common currency for stable isotope analysis studies conducted on the nesting beach. We found highly significant relationships between the tissue signatures (r (2) ranged from 0.83 to 0.96) and developed equations to convert isotopic values from one tissue to another. We examined inter- and intra-clutch isotopic variability and found that a single sampling event over the 4-month nesting season adequately defined the loggerhead female foraging area. Consequently, we propose using unhatched eggs as a common currency in stable isotope studies of nesting loggerheads. Unhatched eggs represent a noninvasive and nondestructive method that enables more extensive (both numerically and spatially) sampling. Given similar physiologies, analogous relationships might be derived in other sea turtle species.

Journal Title

Marine Biology

Volume

161

Issue/Number

10

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

2257

Last Page

2268

WOS Identifier

WOS:000342415200006

ISSN

0025-3162

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