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Title: Visual wavelength discrimination by the loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta.
Creator: Young, Morgan, Salmon, Michael, Forward, Richard B., Jr., Graduate College
Date Issued: 2011-04-08
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3164729
Subject Headings: Loggerhead turtle, Spectral sensitivity, Phototaxis
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Responses of green [chelonia mydas], loggerhead [caretta caretta], and leatherback turtles [dermochelys coriacea] to chemical odors.
Creator: Kedzuf, Stephanie C., Salmon, Michael, Graduate College
Abstract/Description: The cues used by marine turtles to locate foraging areas in the open ocean are largely unknown, though field observations suggest that some species [especially the green turtle [Chelonia mydas], the loggerhead [Caretta caretta], and the leatherback [Dermochelys coriacea]] somehow locate areas of high productivity. Do they do so by orienting toward chemical cues in air, water, or both air and water? Previous studies have shown that loggerheads are capable of detecting airborne odors from...
Show moreThe cues used by marine turtles to locate foraging areas in the open ocean are largely unknown, though field observations suggest that some species [especially the green turtle [Chelonia mydas], the loggerhead [Caretta caretta], and the leatherback [Dermochelys coriacea]] somehow locate areas of high productivity. Do they do so by orienting toward chemical cues in air, water, or both air and water? Previous studies have shown that loggerheads are capable of detecting airborne odors from synthetic food [turtle pellets] as well as natural dimethyl sulfide [DMS], which is found in productive oceanic areas. However, responses were brief, and a capacity to orient was not investigated. We presented tethered loggerheads and leatherbacks to a laminar airflow that contained DMS or natural food odors [squid, shrimp, sargassum, and moon jellyfish]. We observed no tendency to orient upwind. Additional experiments examined if freeswimming loggerhead and green turtles would respond to squid odor presented in air or water with a visual stimulus [a small plastic ball suspended in the water present]. Both species showed significant increases in biting behavior when exposed to squid odor in air or water. We conclude that i. air currents carrying DMS or food do not induce turtles to orient upwind, ii. turtles can detect and respond to food odors either in air or underwater, and iii. only odors from food stimulate turtles to initiate feeding behavior. None of our results provide support for the hypothesis that turtles can locate distant sources of food in the ocean using odor cues.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005826
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Comparison of growth patterns in three species of juvenile sea turtles.
Creator: Pate, Jessica Hope, Salmon, Michael, Wyneken, Jeanette, Graduate College
Abstract/Description: Sea turtles are most vulnerable to predators during early growth when they are small and relatively defenseless. Predation risk might be reduced by evolving effective behavioral as well as morphological defenses. Loggerhead Caretta caretta and green turtle Chelonia mydas neonates hide in weed lines. They also become wider faster than they increase in length, a pattern of positive allometry that may function to minimize the time during growth when they are vulnerable to gape-limited predators....
Show moreSea turtles are most vulnerable to predators during early growth when they are small and relatively defenseless. Predation risk might be reduced by evolving effective behavioral as well as morphological defenses. Loggerhead Caretta caretta and green turtle Chelonia mydas neonates hide in weed lines. They also become wider faster than they increase in length, a pattern of positive allometry that may function to minimize the time during growth when they are vulnerable to gape-limited predators. Virtually nothing is known about how young leatherbacks grow which might reduce their vulnerability to predators. To find out, we reared 30 hatchlings from 10 nests in the laboratory for up to 14 weeks, post-emergence. Once weekly, each turtle’s body proportions straight line carapace length, SCL; straight line carapace width, SCW were measured to yield an observed pattern of growth. That observed growth pattern was compared to an expected pattern in which the turtles retained their hatchling proportions as they grew larger isometric growth. We found that all of the leatherbacks showed allometric growth as their SCW increased more rapidly than their SCL. Thus as they grew, leatherbacks became proportionally wider, though this growth was not as pronounced as seen in loggerheads and green turtles. We also modeled vulnerability to gape-limited predators. Leatherbacks, like loggerhead and green turtles, were less vulnerable to predation when growing allometrically. These results provide insight into a little know sea turtle life stage and aids in understanding how morphology in early development may reduce predation risk.
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Date Issued: 2014
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005846
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Determining the sensitive period for magnetic imprinting in loggerhead turtles.
Creator: Pate, Jessica Hope, Salmon, Michael, Franquiz, Auriel, Graduate College
Date Issued: 2013-04-12
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3361335
Subject Headings: Loggerhead turtle, Geomagnetism, Imprinting
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Ecological correlates of the abundance of juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) on nearshore reefs in southeast Florida.
Creator: Stadler, Melanie, Salmon, Michael, Roberts, Charles, Graduate College
Date Issued: 2013-04-12
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/3361359
Subject Headings: Green turtle, Chelonia mydas, Reefs--Florida
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Use Of Molecular Techniques To Understand The Spatial And Temporal Features Of The Oceanic Stage In Hawksbill Sea Turtles, Eretmochelys Imbricata; A Thesis Proposal.
Creator: Coppenrath, Christina, Salmon, Michael, Graduate College
Abstract/Description: For highly migratory species, it is important to understand what habitats are used and what requirements are essential for growth and development. These migrations often span different political and regulatory boundaries, complicating conservation strategies. The hatchlings and post-hatchlings of most sea turtle species migrate to oceanic habitats where they remain for several years before returning to shallow developmental habitats. For critically endangered hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys...
Show moreFor highly migratory species, it is important to understand what habitats are used and what requirements are essential for growth and development. These migrations often span different political and regulatory boundaries, complicating conservation strategies. The hatchlings and post-hatchlings of most sea turtle species migrate to oceanic habitats where they remain for several years before returning to shallow developmental habitats. For critically endangered hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, most research has concentrated on nesting ecology and very little is known about the posthatchling migration. Many sea turtles then spend years in different foraging habitats before reaching sexual maturity, and such foraging grounds typically represent a mixed stock of turtles from different nesting beaches. Mitochondrial DNA analysis can be used to estimate genetic stock structure of mixedstock foraging populations for sea turtles, and the duration of the post-hatchling oceanic stage can be estimated using stable isotope analysis and satellite telemetry. Our objectives are to determine the duration of the post-hatchling oceanic stage of development, to determine if the turtles sampled in a particular foraging habitat represent a biased or unbiased assortment of matrilineages, and to infer potential migratory pathways by investigating ocean currents between nesting beaches and the foraging site. Here we discuss our methods, to determine the duration of the post-hatchling oceanic stage and stock structure for immature hawksbills at a developmental foraging ground.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005873
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: What Controls The Nocturnal Emergence Rhythm Of Hatchling Marine Turtles?.
Creator: Prio, Joseph D., Salmon, Michael, Graduate College
Abstract/Description: Most marine organisms partition particular activities, such as growth, migration, reproduction, and hatching, to particular seasons, times of the day or night, or phases of the lunar cycle. The result is characterized as a “rhythm”. Scientists who study these rhythms generally ask two kinds of questions: why do they occur when they do that is, what is their survival value, and how are they controlled, physiologically? Hatchling marine turtles almost always emerge from their nests at night,...
Show moreMost marine organisms partition particular activities, such as growth, migration, reproduction, and hatching, to particular seasons, times of the day or night, or phases of the lunar cycle. The result is characterized as a “rhythm”. Scientists who study these rhythms generally ask two kinds of questions: why do they occur when they do that is, what is their survival value, and how are they controlled, physiologically? Hatchling marine turtles almost always emerge from their nests at night, then crawl down the beach to the sea and migrate offshore. By doing so at night they avoid lethally warm beach sands and diurnally active predators in the shallows. But these “survival value” explanations do not account for how the turtles, digging their way upward inside the nest toward the beach surface, know that it’s dark and time to emerge. The classic explanation for how they “know” is based upon surface sand temperatures. During the day, these sands can be very warm 50° C. When hatchlings digging upward encounter these heated sands, they stop digging until the sand cools, after sunset. But these observations fail to explain why in most studies, hatchlings rarely emerge from their nests at dawn or in the early morning, when the sand is still cool. To account for those observations, we hypothesize that the turtles must also possess a time sense that inhibits emergence during inappropriate times, such as shortly before or after sunrise.
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Date Issued: 2015
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00005909
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: Hawksbill nest site selection affects hatchling survival at a rookery in Antigua, West Indies.
Creator: Reising, Megan, Salmon, Michael, Stapleton, S
Date Issued: 2015-12-17
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FAUIR000185
Format: Citation

Title: Ecological correlates of the abundance of juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia Mydas) on nearshore reefs in southeast Florida.
Creator: Stadler, Melanie, Salmon, Michael, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract/Description: Juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) abundance differs among nearshore reefs, but why some sites are preferred over others is unknown. My study had two objectives: to quantify differences in abundance over time (one year) and to determine what ecological factors were correlated with those differences. I conducted quarterly surveys on reefs in Palm Beach and Broward Counties and compared reef sites with respect to (i) water depth, (ii) algal abundance and composition, and (iii) changes in...
Show moreJuvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) abundance differs among nearshore reefs, but why some sites are preferred over others is unknown. My study had two objectives: to quantify differences in abundance over time (one year) and to determine what ecological factors were correlated with those differences. I conducted quarterly surveys on reefs in Palm Beach and Broward Counties and compared reef sites with respect to (i) water depth, (ii) algal abundance and composition, and (iii) changes in reef area (caused by sand covering) through time (11 years). Turtles were most abundant on shallow reefs exposed to high light levels that remained stable (uncovered by sand) for long periods of time. These reefs had the highest diversity of algal species, in part because cropping by the turtles prevented any one species from becoming dominant. My results suggest that both physical and biological factors make some reefs more attractive to turtles than others
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004064
Subject Headings: Conservation biology -- Florida, Ecology -- Statistical methods, Sea turtles -- Ecology -- Florida, Wildlife conservation -- Florida
Format: Document (PDF)

Title: The hawksbill rookery at Antigua, W.I.: nest success, hatchling behavior, and hatchling survival during offshore migration.
Creator: Reising, Megan, Salmon, Michael, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, Department of Biological Sciences
Abstract/Description: The younger life history stages of marine turtles (eggs, hatchlings) often fail to survive. To compensate, sea turtles nest several times/season and produce large clutches of eggs. The hawksbill produces the largest clutches (150 eggs) and the smallest hatchlings of any marine turtle. My study, done at Jumby Bay in Antigua, West Indies, was designed to determine whether they did so to compensate for loss in the nest, hatchling loss in the water, or both factors. I found that most of the eggs ...
Show moreThe younger life history stages of marine turtles (eggs, hatchlings) often fail to survive. To compensate, sea turtles nest several times/season and produce large clutches of eggs. The hawksbill produces the largest clutches (150 eggs) and the smallest hatchlings of any marine turtle. My study, done at Jumby Bay in Antigua, West Indies, was designed to determine whether they did so to compensate for loss in the nest, hatchling loss in the water, or both factors. I found that most of the eggs (79 %) survived to become hatchlings that left the nest and entered the sea. However, 88 % of the hatchlings swimming offshore were taken by predators within minutes after they began their migration. These results suggest that at Jumby Bay, large clutch size is favored in hawksbills because of predation pressures on the hatchlings.
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Date Issued: 2013
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA0004049
Subject Headings: Animal migration -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay, Animal orientation -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay, Hawksbill turtle -- Research -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay, Predation (Biology), Sea turtles -- Research -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay, Wildlife conservation -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay
Format: Document (PDF)

FAU Graduate Student Research (7)	+ -
FAU Theses and Dissertations (2)	+ -
FAU College Collections (1)	+ -

Loggerhead turtle (2)	+ -
Animal migration -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay (1)	+ -
Animal orientation -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay (1)	+ -
Chelonia mydas (1)	+ -
Conservation biology -- Florida (1)	+ -

Ecology -- Statistical methods (1)	+ -
Geomagnetism (1)	+ -
Green turtle (1)	+ -
Hawksbill turtle -- Research -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay (1)	+ -
Imprinting (1)	+ -
Phototaxis (1)	+ -
Predation (Biology) (1)	+ -
Reefs--Florida (1)	+ -
Sea turtles -- Ecology -- Florida (1)	+ -
Sea turtles -- Research -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay (1)	+ -
Spectral sensitivity (1)	+ -
Wildlife conservation -- Antigua -- Jumbo Bay (1)	+ -
Wildlife conservation -- Florida (1)	+ -

abstract (5)	+ -
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation (2)	+ -
poster (2)	+ -
article (1)	+ -

Graduate College (7)	+ -
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science (2)	+ -
Department of Biological Sciences (2)	+ -
Pate, Jessica Hope (2)	+ -
Reising, Megan (2)	+ -

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