Global warming facilitates the nesting of the loggerhead turtle on the Mediterranean coast of Spain

Cardona, Luís; Martín, J. San; Benito, Llúcia; Tòmàs, Jesús; Abella, Elena; Eymar, Juan; Aguilera, Milenko A.; Esteban, José A.; Tarragó, A.; Marco, Adolfo

doi:10.1111/acv.12828

Cited by 8 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…This limited overlap is due to the wide distribution of nests along the Spanish Mediterranean coast, making it challenging for researchers to reach nesting events before the females depart from the beach, and because dead hatchlings do not occur at some nests. The complementarity of these two data sets addresses the challenges posed by the small sample size, a consequence of the very recent colonization of Spanish beaches by nesting females, which in turn has led to a relatively small number of nesting events recorded annually on these shores, with fewer than 11 nests per year until 2022 (Cardona et al, 2022; Hochscheid et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The complementarity of these two data sets addresses the challenges posed by the small sample size, a consequence of the very recent colonization of Spanish beaches by nesting females, which in turn has led to a relatively small number of nesting events recorded annually on these shores, with fewer than 11 nests per year until 2022 (Cardona et al, 2022;Hochscheid et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the timing of this migration is highly variable, and there is evidence that some turtles reach sexual maturity before moving to the foraging grounds used by the adults of their natal population (Piovano et al, 2011). Eventually, these individuals may mate and nest on nearby beaches (Cardona et al, 2022; Carreras et al, 2018; Shaver et al, 2020; Santidrián Tomillo et al, 2022), thus laying the foundations for a new population if their offspring remain faithful to their own natal beaches, which are distinct from those of their forebears.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying the foraging grounds of the new loggerhead turtle nesters in the western Mediterranean

Cardona,

Abalo‐Morla,

Cani

et al. 2024

Aquatic Conservation

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The western Mediterranean Sea has traditionally served as a primary foraging ground for juvenile loggerhead turtles from three distinct regional management units: the North‐western Atlantic, the Mediterranean and Cape Verde. Nesting activities were sporadic. Recently, nesting activity on the beaches of eastern Spain has increased, due to warmer sand and water temperatures during the summer months. The study has integrated stable isotope analysis of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S) with satellite telemetry to identify the foraging grounds of these new colonizers nesting on Spanish beaches. Results indicate that the majority of these adult females forage oceanically in the Algerian Basin, with a few exhibiting distinct stable isotope signals, tentatively associated with foraging in shallow coastal areas in the central Mediterranean Sea. The dominance of oceanic foragers in this new population is noteworthy, given the Algerian Basin's oligotrophic nature. This contrasts with the prevalence of neritic foraging in adult females nesting in the central and eastern Mediterranean Sea. The use of the Algerian Basin as a foraging ground for adult loggerhead turtles exposes them to bycatch from drifting longlines. The authorities should refrain from increasing bluefin quotas imposed on longliners in the Algerian Basin unless the fishery avoids using squid as bait and agrees to deploy hooks deeper than 25 m to reduce loggerhead turtle bycatch.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Identifying the foraging grounds of the new loggerhead turtle nesters in the western Mediterranean

Cardona,

Abalo‐Morla,

Cani

et al. 2024

Aquatic Conservation

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“…It might be that several other processes need to take place for sea turtles to be able to adapt to climate change. Other behavioral adaptations may include changes in the spatial distribution of sea turtle nesting sites, as well as changes in their nest‐site choice on nesting beaches (Cardona et al., 2022; Girard et al., 2021; Hochscheid et al., 2022; Mancino et al., 2022; Tomillo et al., 2022). Since spatial and temporal adaptations may occur simultaneously (Chuine, 2010), future studies should develop a multi‐faceted framework to explore the adaptive potential of sea turtles in response to contemporary climate change.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation of sea turtles to climate warming: Will phenological responses be sufficient to counteract changes in reproductive output?

Fuentes,

Santos,

Abreu‐Grobois

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Sea turtles are vulnerable to climate change since their reproductive output is influenced by incubating temperatures, with warmer temperatures causing lower hatching success and increased feminization of embryos. Their ability to cope with projected increases in ambient temperatures will depend on their capacity to adapt to shifts in climatic regimes. Here, we assessed the extent to which phenological shifts could mitigate impacts from increases in ambient temperatures (from 1.5 to 3°C in air temperatures and from 1.4 to 2.3°C in sea surface temperatures by 2100 at our sites) on four species of sea turtles, under a “middle of the road” scenario (SSP2‐4.5). Sand temperatures at sea turtle nesting sites are projected to increase from 0.58 to 4.17°C by 2100 and expected shifts in nesting of 26–43 days earlier will not be sufficient to maintain current incubation temperatures at 7 (29%) of our sites, hatching success rates at 10 (42%) of our sites, with current trends in hatchling sex ratio being able to be maintained at half of the sites. We also calculated the phenological shifts that would be required (both backward for an earlier shift in nesting and forward for a later shift) to keep up with present‐day incubation temperatures, hatching success rates, and sex ratios. The required shifts backward in nesting for incubation temperatures ranged from −20 to −191 days, whereas the required shifts forward ranged from +54 to +180 days. However, for half of the sites, no matter the shift the median incubation temperature will always be warmer than the 75th percentile of current ranges. Given that phenological shifts will not be able to ameliorate predicted changes in temperature, hatching success and sex ratio at most sites, turtles may need to use other adaptive responses and/or there is the need to enhance sea turtle resilience to climate warming.

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“…In response to increased global temperatures, sea turtles have shown several adaptations to maximize reproductive success under increasingly adverse conditions. These include earlier nesting (Weishampel et al ., 2004, 2010; Mazaris et al ., 2013) and a shift of preferred nesting sites to cooler climates (Stewart et al ., 2011; Girard et al ., 2021; Cardona et al ., 2022; Mancino et al ., 2022). These changes suggest that sea turtles may be able to combat climate change, to a point, by altering some aspects of their life history traits.…”

Section: Climate Change and Its Effects On Sea Turtle Reproductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproduction in Sea Turtles, a Review

Scheelings

2023

Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery

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Sea turtles are among the most ancient vertebrates on Earth, having existed for more than 120 million years. They are a monophyletic group, comprised of two families and seven extant species. Despite the close phylogenetic relationships sea turtles share, there are significant differences in life history traits and reproductive strategies between the species, including migration, reproductive output, and neonatal behavior. Understanding these differences may be critical to reversing the declining population trends seen in most sea turtle populations.

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Global warming facilitates the nesting of the loggerhead turtle on the Mediterranean coast of Spain

Cited by 8 publications

References 98 publications

Identifying the foraging grounds of the new loggerhead turtle nesters in the western Mediterranean

Identifying the foraging grounds of the new loggerhead turtle nesters in the western Mediterranean

Adaptation of sea turtles to climate warming: Will phenological responses be sufficient to counteract changes in reproductive output?

Reproduction in Sea Turtles, a Review

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