Genetic structuring of immature loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean Sea reflects water circulation patterns

Carreras, Carlos; Pont, Sara; Maffucci, Fulvio; Pascual, Marta; Barceló, Anna; Bentivegna, Flegra; Cardona, Luís; Alegre, Ferrán; Sanfélix, Manuel; Fernández, Gloria L. Gallardo; Aguilar, Àlex

doi:10.1007/s00227-006-0282-8

Cited by 133 publications

(160 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Next, an unknown proportion of juvenile turtles recruits to neritic habitats closer to their natal beaches, a behaviour known as juvenile natal homing (Bolten 2003;Bowen et al 2004), while others continue to feed in the high seas (Musick and Limpus 1997). Both pelagic and neritic feeding grounds are usually ''mixed stocks'' drawn from various different rookeries Laurent et al 1998;Bowen et al 2004;Bass et al 2004;Carreras et al 2006). At sexual maturity, some adults switch from subadult to adult foraging habitats (Bolten 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While North Atlantic and Mediterranean loggerhead turtles are a relatively well-studied systems in population genetics and connectivity research Encalada et al 1998;Laurent et al 1998;Bowen et al 2004Bowen et al , 2005Carreras et al 2006Carreras et al , 2007Lee 2008), key gaps in sampling still remain. The second largest nesting aggregation of the globally endangered loggerhead sea turtle (IUCN 2007) in the Atlantic Ocean is found at the Cape Verde Islands, which is also the only major rookery in Western Africa for this species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The accuracy of this analysis is known to be limited by factors including incomplete sampling of potential sources, insufficient resolution of the markers used to infer the genetic structure, and insufficient levels of differentiation (Chapman 1996;Masuda 2001, 2005;Bolker et al 2003Bolker et al , 2007. The mere size of Cape Verde rookery and its geographic location suggest that at least some of the pelagic Atlantic juvenile loggerhead turtles originally assigned to other sources in previous MSAs, could in fact be from this Macaronesian rookery Laurent et al 1998;Carreras et al 2006). Another potentially confounding factor in MSA is lack of resolution in the genetic data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Population structure and conservation implications for the loggerhead sea turtle of the Cape Verde Islands

et al. 2010

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The Cape Verde Islands harbour the second largest nesting aggregation of the globally endangered loggerhead sea turtle in the Atlantic. To characterize the unknown genetic structure, connectivity, and demographic history of this population, we sequenced a segment of the mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region (380 bp, n = 186) and genotyped 12 microsatellite loci (n = 128) in females nesting at three islands of Cape Verde. No genetic differentiation in either haplotype or allele frequencies was found among the islands (mtDNA F ST = 0.001, P [ 0.02; nDNA F ST = 0.001, P [ 0.126). However, population pairwise comparisons of the mtDNA data revealed significant differences between Cape Verde and all previously sequenced Atlantic and Mediterranean rookeries (F ST = 0.745; P \ 0.000). Results of a mixed stock analysis of mtDNA data from 10 published oceanic feeding grounds showed that feeding grounds of the Madeira, Azores, and the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, and Gimnesies, Pitiü ses, and Andalusia, in the Mediterranean sea, are feeding grounds used by turtles born in Cape Verde, but that about 43% (±19%) of Cape Verde juveniles disperse to unknown areas. In a subset of samples (n = 145) we evaluated the utility of a longer segment (*760 bp) amplified by recently designed mtDNA control region primers for assessing the genetic structure of Atlantic loggerhead turtles. The analysis of the longer

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Population structure and conservation implications for the loggerhead sea turtle of the Cape Verde Islands

et al. 2010

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“…1). The northern Adriatic is an important foraging area for adults from Greek (Lazar et al 2004, Carreras et al 2006, Giovannotti et al 2010, Garofalo et al 2013 and Turkish rookeries, as well as for juveniles (Casale et al 2004). Other important areas are the southern Adriatic (Casale et al 2012a), the Ionian Sea, the Strait of Sicily, and the Tunisian shelf (Margaritoulis et al 2003, Casale et al 2007b, Casale et al 2014).…”

Section: Sea Turtle Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The loggerhead Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758) is the most common species in the Mediterranean (Broderick et al 2002, Margaritoulis et al 2003. Like the green turtle Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758), it nests in the eastern regions , Margaritoulis et al 2003, but also frequents different habitats during different life stages in the western sector (Garofalo et al 2013), where it co-occurs with individuals from the Atlantic (Carreras et al 2006, Casale et al 2008a. Leatherbacks Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761) are observed regularly at sea , whereas the hawksbill turtle Eretmochelys imbricata (Linnaeus, 1766) and Kemp's ridley Lepidochelys kempii (Garman, 1880) are recorded here only occasionally Lescure 1994, Camiñas 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A critical review of the Mediterranean sea turtle rescue network: a web looking for a weaver

Ullmann¹,

Stachowitsch²

2015

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Citation: Ullmann J, Stachowitsch M (2015) A critical review of the Mediterranean sea turtle rescue network: a web looking for a weaver. Nature Conservation 10: 45-69. doi: 10.3897/natureconservation.10.4890 Abstract A key issue in conservation biology is recognizing and bridging the gap between scientific results and specific action. We examine sea turtles-charismatic yet endangered flagship species-in the Mediterranean, a sea with historically high levels of exploitation and 22 coastal nations. We take sea turtle rescue facilities as a visible measure for implemented conservation action. Our study yielded 34 confirmed sea turtle rescue centers, 8 first-aid stations, and 7 informal rescue institutions currently in operation. Juxtaposing these facilities to known sea turtle distribution and threat hotspots reveals a clear disconnect. Only 14 of the 22 coastal countries had centers, with clear gaps in the Middle East and Africa. Moreover, the information flow between centers is apparently limited. The populations of the two species nesting in the Mediterranean, the loggerhead Caretta caretta and the green turtle Chelonia mydas, are far below historical levels and face a range of anthropogenic threats at sea and on land. Sea turtle rescue centers are acknowledged to reduce mortality in bycatch hotspots, provide a wealth of scientific data, and raise public awareness. The proposal for a Mediterranean-wide rescue network as published by the Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas a decade ago has not materialized in its envisioned scope. We discuss the efficiency, gaps, and needs for a rescue network and call for establishing additional rescue centers and an accompanying common online database to connect existing centers. This would provide better information on the number and types of rescue facilities on a Mediterranean scale, improve communication between these facilities, enhance standardization of procedures, yield large-scale data on the number of treated turtles and their injuries, and thus provide valuable input for targeted conservation measures.

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Sea turtle strandings reveal high anthropogenic mortality in Italian waters

Casale

Affronte²,

Insacco

et al. 2010

Aquatic Conservation

127

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1.Spatio-temporal distribution and anthropogenic mortality factors were investigated in loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) found stranded or floating in the waters around Italy. A total of 5938 records for the period 1980-2008 were analysed concerning loggerhead turtles measuring from 3.8 to 97 cm curved carapace length (mean: 48.3 cm).2.Results highlighted the following conservation issues: (i) in the study area, anthropogenic mortality is higher than natural mortality; (ii) interaction with fisheries is by far the most important anthropogenic mortality factor; (iii) longlines are an important mortality factor in the southern areas; (iv) trawlers are the cause of high numbers of dead strandings in the north Adriatic; (v) entanglement in ghost-gear or in other anthropogenic debris affects high numbers of turtles; and (vi) boat strikes are an important source of mortality in most areas but mostly in the warm seasons.3.Results also indicate that: (vii) the north Adriatic is the area with the highest turtle density; and (viii) the south Adriatic and to a lesser extent the surrounding areas of the north Adriatic and the Ionian, are important developmental areas for loggerhead turtles in the first years of life.4.Italy is in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea and borders major foraging areas for the loggerhead turtles in the region, and these results confirm previous concerns about the level of anthropogenic mortality in Italian waters. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

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Genetic structuring of immature loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean Sea reflects water circulation patterns

Cited by 133 publications

References 25 publications

Population structure and conservation implications for the loggerhead sea turtle of the Cape Verde Islands

Population structure and conservation implications for the loggerhead sea turtle of the Cape Verde Islands

A critical review of the Mediterranean sea turtle rescue network: a web looking for a weaver

Sea turtle strandings reveal high anthropogenic mortality in Italian waters

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