Critical In-Water Habitats for Post-Nesting Sea Turtles from the Southern Gulf of Mexico

Abigail Uribe-Martínez,Eduardo Cuevas,María De Los Angeles Liceaga-Correa

doi:10.3390/jmse9080793

Abstract

Marine turtles are globally endangered species that spend more than 95% of their life cycle in in-water habitats. Nevertheless, most of the conservation, recovery and research efforts have targeted the on-land habitats, due to their easier access, where adult females lay their eggs. Targeting the large knowledge gaps on the in-water critical habitats of turtles, particularly in the Large Marine Ecosystem Gulf of Mexico, is crucial for their conservation and recovery in the long term. We used satellite telemetry to track 85 nesting females from their beaches after they nested to identify their feeding and residency habitats, their migratory corridors and to describe the context for those areas. We delimited major migratory corridors in the southern Gulf of Mexico and West Caribbean and described physical features of internesting and feeding home ranges located mainly around the Yucatan Peninsula and Veracruz, Mexico. We also contributed by describing general aggregation and movement patterns for the four marine turtle species in the Atlantic, expanding the knowledge of the studied species. Several tracked individuals emigrated from the Gulf of Mexico to as far as Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Bahamas. This information is critical for identifying gaps in marine protection and for deciphering the spatial connectivity in large ocean basins, and it provides an opportunity to assess potential impacts on marine turtle populations and their habitats.

Highlights

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the adjacent waters of the West Caribbean (WC) are important areas of distribution for these species, and some of the most important nesting populations in the world for hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) turtles occur in these regions [5,6,7,8,9]
The objectives of this study were (i) to identify and spatially delimit the areas used during the internesting and feeding/residency stages by post-nesting individuals of four sea turtle species from their nesting beaches at the Mexican Atlantic littoral; (ii) to delimit their migratory corridors; and (iii) to describe the physical features of their home ranges and compare them among species
The overall average tracking duration was 262.44 days (± 23.61 (SD)), and 35,763 location records were obtained after the filtering process, and those were used to define the critical habitats for these individuals (Table S1)

Summary

Introduction

Restoration and conservation of endangered marine animal populations require large management efforts that may be better established and implemented from the perspective of marine spatial planning [1,2]. Large marine species groups (mammals, reptiles, birds, and fishes) have wide distribution ranges, and their conservation requires the comprehension of numerous coastal and marine ecosystems, together with national and multinational coordinated protection initiatives. The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and the adjacent waters of the West Caribbean (WC) are important areas of distribution for these species, and some of the most important nesting populations in the world for hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) turtles occur in these regions [5,6,7,8,9]

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion