Exceptionally high natal homing precision in hawksbill sea turtles to insular rookeries of the Caribbean

2019 ◽  
Vol 620 ◽  
pp. 155-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
KE Levasseur ◽  
SP Stapleton ◽  
MC Fuller ◽  
JM Quattro
Keyword(s):  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Natal Homing ◽  
The Caribbean

scholarly journals Quantifying Illegal Extraction of Sea Turtles in Costa Rica

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Pheasey ◽  
George Glen ◽  
Nicole L. Allison ◽  
Luis G. Fonseca ◽  
Didiher Chacón ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Costa Rica ◽  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Chelonia Mydas ◽  
Sea Turtle ◽  
Wildlife Trade ◽  
Caribbean Coast ◽  
Turtle Species ◽  
Illegal Wildlife Trade ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Impact

Estimates of illegal wildlife trade vary significantly and are often based on incomplete datasets, inferences from CITES permits or customs seizures. As a result, annual global estimates of illegal wildlife trade can vary by several billions of US dollars. Translating these figures into species extraction rates is equally challenging, and estimating illegal take accurately is not achievable for many species. Due to their nesting strategies that allow for census data collection, sea turtles offer an exception. On the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, three sea turtle species (leatherback, Dermochelys coriacea; green, Chelonia mydas; and hawksbill, Eretmochelys imbricata) are exploited by poachers. Despite the consumption of turtle eggs and meat being illegal, they are consumed as a cultural food source and seasonal treat. Conservation programmes monitor nesting beaches, collect abundance data and record poaching events. Despite the availability of robust long-term datasets, quantifying the rate of poaching has yet to be undertaken. Using data from the globally important nesting beach, Tortuguero, as well as beaches Playa Norte and Pacuare on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, we modelled the spatial and temporal distribution of poaching of the three sea turtle species. Here, we present data from 2006 to 2019 on a stretch of coastline covering c.37 km. We identified poaching hotspots that correlated with populated areas. While the poaching hotspots persisted over time, we found poaching is declining at each of our sites. However, we urge caution when interpreting this result as the impact of poaching varies between species. Given their low abundance on these beaches, the poaching pressure on leatherback and hawksbill turtles is far greater than the impact on the abundant green turtles. We attribute the decline in poaching to supply-side conservation interventions in place at these beaches. Finally, we highlight the value of data sharing and collaborations between conservation NGOs.

Detection ofSalmonella entericaSerovar Montevideo and Newport in Free-ranging Sea Turtles and Beach Sand in the Caribbean and Persistence in Sand and Seawater Microcosms

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (6) ◽  
pp. 450-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.-K. Ives ◽  
E. Antaki ◽  
K. Stewart ◽  
S. Francis ◽  
M. T. Jay-Russell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Beach Sand ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Free Ranging

The Last Turtlemen of the Caribbean

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharika D. Crawford
Keyword(s):  
Significant Role ◽  
Natural Environment ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Economic Change ◽  
Ecological Sustainability ◽  
The People ◽  
Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
National Governments

Illuminating the entangled histories of the people and commodities that circulated across the Atlantic, Sharika D. Crawford assesses the Caribbean as a waterscape where imperial and national governments vied to control the profitability of the sea. Crawford places the green and hawksbill sea turtles and the Caymanian turtlemen who hunted them at the center of this waterscape. The story of the humble turtle and its hunter, she argues, came to play a significant role in shaping the maritime boundaries of the modern Caribbean. Crawford describes the colonial Caribbean as an Atlantic commons where all could compete to control the region’s diverse peoples, lands, and waters and exploit the region’s raw materials. Focusing on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Crawford traces and connects the expansion and decline of turtle hunting to matters of race, labor, political, and economic change, and the natural environment. Like the turtles they chased, the boundary-flouting laborers exposed the limits of states’ sovereignty for a time but ultimately they lost their livelihoods, having played a significant role in the legislation delimiting maritime boundaries. Still, former turtlemen have found their deep knowledge valued today in efforts to protect sea turtles and recover the region’s ecological sustainability.

There and back again: natal homing by magnetic navigation in sea turtles and salmon

2019 ◽  
Vol 222 (Suppl 1) ◽  
pp. jeb184077 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Lohmann ◽  
Catherine M. F. Lohmann
Keyword(s):  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Magnetic Navigation ◽  
Natal Homing

Natal Homing and Imprinting in Sea Turtles

2013 ◽  
pp. 59-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Lohmann ◽  
Catherine Lohmann ◽  
J Brothers ◽  
Nathan Putman
Keyword(s):  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Natal Homing

scholarly journals Checklist of sea turtles endohelminth in Neotropical region

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. Werneck ◽  
R. J. Da Silva
Keyword(s):  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Loggerhead Turtle ◽  
Chelonia Mydas ◽  
Neotropical Region ◽  
Dermochelys Coriacea ◽  
Olive Ridley ◽  
Eretmochelys Imbricata ◽  
Leatherback Turtle ◽  
Lepidochelys Olivacea ◽  
The Caribbean

SummaryThis paper presents a list of parasites described in sea turtles from the Neotropical region. Through the review of literature the occurrence of 79 taxa of helminthes parasites were observed, mostly consisting of the Phylum Platyhelminthes with 76 species distributed in 14 families and 2 families of the Phylum Nematoda within 3 species. Regarding the parasite records, the most studied host was the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) followed by the hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Overall helminths were reported in 12 countries and in the Caribbean Sea region. This checklist is the largest compilation of data on helminths found in sea turtles in the Neotropical region.

The tanaid Hexapleomera robusta (Crustacea: Peracarida) from the Caribbean manatee, with comments on other crustacean epibionts

2008 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamín Morales-Vela ◽  
Eduardo Suárez-Morales ◽  
Janneth Padilla-Saldívar ◽  
Richard W. Heard
Keyword(s):  
Sea Turtles ◽  
Harpacticoid Copepod ◽  
Skin Surface ◽  
Skin Lesions ◽  
The Body ◽  
Symbiotic Association ◽  
Surface Patches ◽  
Marine Realm ◽  
Lateral Margins ◽  
The Caribbean

The tanaidaceans are among the most conspicuous and ecologically relevant benthic microcrustaceans in the marine realm but there are only a few records of species of tanaids associated with other marine organisms. During a long-term survey on the biology and distribution of the Caribbean manatee Trichechus manatus manatus Linnaeus in Mexican waters, parasites and epibionts were collected from 47 individuals that were captured for tagging in two bay systems. Well-established epibiotic communities of the tanaidacean Hexapleomera robusta (Moore) were found on eight of these animals; this tanaid crustacean formed patches of tubes adhered to the skin surface. Patches were distributed in different parts of the body surface but mainly along the backbone depression, the caudal zone, and on the lateral margins; in some instances they were related to clusters of barnacles. Highly significant differences of infestation rates were revealed between Chetumal Bay and Ascensión Bay, the latter representing better conditions (high salinity and hydrodynamism) for tanaid invasion and settlement on the manatee. It is speculated that the tanaid is a commensal; no visible damage was found in the host and its presence was not related to skin lesions. The tanaid probably captures suspended particles as the manatee feeds. This is the first confirmed record of a symbiotic association involving a tanaid and the Caribbean manatee. The tanaid species recorded (H. robusta) and the harpacticoid copepod Balaenophilus manatorum (Ortíz, Lalana & Torres), have both been recorded also as epibionts of sea turtles. The tanaid has been known from sea turtles for some time, but the copepod was first recorded from a manatee and was subsequently found on sea turtles a few years later.

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