Title

Earlier Nesting By Loggerhead Sea Turtles Following Sea Surface Warming

Keywords

Egg laying; Florida; Marine turtle; Nesting behavior; Sea surface temperature

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 13000 and 25000 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 '0.8°C over this period. This marine example from warm temperate/subtropical waters represents another response of nature to recent climate trends. © 2004 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Publication Date

1-1-2004

Publication Title

Global Change Biology

Volume

10

Issue

8

Number of Pages

1424-1427

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-8817.2003.00817.x

Socpus ID

3943088286 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/3943088286

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