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High-use areas, seasonal movements and dive patterns of juvenile loggerhead sea turtles in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean

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Title High-use areas, seasonal movements and dive patterns of juvenile loggerhead sea turtles in the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean
Names Barcelo, Caren (creator)
Domingo, Andres (creator)
Miller, Philip (creator)
Ortega, Leonardo (creator)
Giffoni, Bruno (creator)
Sales, Gilberto (creator)
McNaughton, Lianne (creator)
Marcovaldi, Maria (creator)
Heppell, Selina S. (creator)
Swimmer, Yonat (creator)
Date Issued 2013-04-08 (iso8601)
Note To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work.
This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by Inter-Research and can be found at: http://www.int-res.com/home/.
Abstract Characterizing the behaviors of sea turtles and identifying high-use areas as they
vary in time and space is important for conservation planning, particularly when turtles overlap
with fisheries that may unintentionally harm them. Between July 2006 and March 2010, 27 satellite
transmitters were deployed at sea on juvenile loggerheads Caretta caretta captured as
bycatch in the Uruguayan and Brazilian pelagic longline fisheries operating in the Southwestern
Atlantic Ocean. Tracking duration ranged from 3 to 639 d (mean ± SD: 259 ± 159 d; n = 27), during
which turtles moved between latitudes of 25 to 45° S and longitudes 35 to 54° W. High-use areas
for the tracked turtles were over the continental shelf and slope within the Uruguayan, Argentinian,
and Brazilian exclusive economic zones and in adjacent international waters. Diving information
was available for 5 turtles. The maximum dive depth recorded varied between 100 and 300 m.
Two turtles demonstrated potential bottom-feeding behaviors by diving to depths that corresponded
closely with the depth of the seafloor (<200 m) at their given location. The sea surface
temperature encountered by tagged turtles was on average 19.8 ± 2.3°C (range: 10.2 to 28.4°C),
and turtles showed an affinity for waters supporting moderate to high primary productivity levels
(0.43 ± 0.89 mg m⁻³ chlorophyll a). Latitudinal movements varied by season and sea surface temperature.
These findings, along with those of other studies conducted in the region, demonstrate
the need to strengthen ongoing collaborative efforts between neighboring countries and other
international partnerships to further the research and management of sea turtles in this area.
Genre Article
Topic Satellite tracking
Identifier Barcelo, C., Swimmer, Y., Domingo, A., Miller, P., Ortega, L., Giffoni, B., . . . Heppell, S. (2013). High-use areas, seasonal movements and dive patterns of juvenile loggerhead sea turtles in the southwestern atlantic ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 479, 235-250. doi:10.3354/meps10222

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