Trace elements in green turtles (Chelonia mydas) from Rocas Atoll, NE Brazil: Baseline reference from a pristine nesting site

Agostinho, Karoline Fernanda Ferreira; Lacerda, Diego; Tostes, Eloá Côrrea Lessa; Baldassin, Paula; Beneditto, Ana Paula Madeira Di; Carvalho, Carlos Eduardo Veiga de

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111271

Cited by 9 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Herbivory is recognized as the predominant feeding habit in adult green turtles (Bjorndal 1997;Burgett et al 2018), but the adult individuals have enough feeding plasticity to take advantage of other food resources when necessary and available, allowing them to behave temporally like carnivores-omnivores (Burkholder et al 2011). Agostinho et al (2020) mentioned the possible foraging activity of nesting green turtles while stay at Rocas Atoll for breeding due to the high diversity of food items locally. Indeed, this area is a foraging site for juvenile green and hawksbill turtles (Bellini et al 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual niche trajectories in nesting green turtles on Rocas Atoll, Brazil: an isotopic tool to assess diet shifts over time

2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In this study, multi-tissue (yolk and carapace) stable isotope analysis was used to assess individual isotopic niche trajectories of nesting green turtles on Rocas Atoll, off northeastern Brazil, and to reveal a diet shift in the temporal dimension. The diet trajectories of individual green turtles were highly directional, with a stronger component towards decreasing values of δ15N from carapace to yolk. When the green turtles are in their foraging sites (temporal window measured by the yolk samples), they are more herbivores. Conversely, in a broader temporal window, the green turtles demonstrate a carnivore-omnivore strategy, such as represented by heavier δ15N values in the carapace. This finding confirms a temporal diet shift. This is the first study that applies trophic niche trajectories for sea turtles, adding a new isotopic tool to understand the trophic ecology of these migrant animals.

show abstract