Phenology of marine turtle nesting revealed by statistical model of the nesting season

✍ Scribed by Marc Girondot; Philippe Rivalan; Ronald Wongsopawiro; Jean-Paul Briane; Vincent Hulin; Stéphane Caut; Elodie Guirlet; Matthew H Godfrey

• Book ID: 104497789
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 885 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1472-6785
• DOI: 10.1186/1472-6785-6-11

✦ Synopsis

Background

Marine turtles deposit their eggs on tropical or subtropical beaches during discrete nesting seasons that span several months. The number and distribution of nests laid during a nesting season provide vital information on various aspects of marine turtle ecology and conservation.

Results

In the case of leatherback sea turtles nesting in French Guiana, we developed a mathematical model to explore the phenology of their nesting season, derived from an incomplete nest count dataset. We detected 3 primary components in the nest distribution of leatherbacks: an overall shape that corresponds to the arrival and departure of leatherback females in the Guianas region, a sinusoidal pattern with a period of approximately 10 days that is related to physiological constraints of nesting female leatherbacks, and a sinusoidal pattern with a period of approximately 15 days that likely reflects the influence of spring high tides on nesting female turtles.

Conclusion

The model proposed here offers a variety of uses for both marine turtles and also other taxa when individuals are observed in a particular location for only part of the year.