Abstract
Leatherback turtles have an average global hatching success rate of ∼50%, lower than other marine turtle species. Embryonic death has been linked to environmental factors such as precipitation and temperature, although, there is still a lot of variability that remains to be explained. We examined how nesting season, the time of nesting each season, the relative position of each clutch laid by each female each season, maternal identity and associated factors such as reproductive experience of the female (new nester versus remigrant) and period of egg retention between clutches (interclutch interval) affected hatching success and stage of embryonic death in failed eggs of leatherback turtles nesting at Playa Grande, Costa Rica. Data were collected during five nesting seasons from 2004/05 to 2008/09. Mean hatching success was 50.4%. Nesting season significantly influenced hatching success in addition to early and late stage embryonic death. Neither clutch position nor nesting time during the season had a significant affect on hatching success or the stage of embryonic death. Some leatherback females consistently produced nests with higher hatching success rates than others. Remigrant females arrived earlier to nest, produced more clutches and had higher rates of hatching success than new nesters. Reproductive experience did not affect stage of death or the duration of the interclutch interval. The length of interclutch interval had a significant affect on the proportion of eggs that failed in each clutch and the developmental stage they died at. Intrinsic factors such as maternal identity are playing a role in affecting embryonic death in the leatherback turtle.
Highlights
Leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are large, pelagic reptiles that undertake long oceanic migrations [1,2,3]
Study site and data collection Data for this study was collected as part of a continuing beach monitoring project at Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica (10u209N, 85u519W)
Stages of embryonic mortality We analysed 694 clutches laid by 207 leatherback females during the five nesting seasons
Summary
Leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are large, pelagic reptiles that undertake long oceanic migrations [1,2,3] They were once thought to be the most abundant of the 7 living sea turtle species but have suffered substantial population declines in many parts of the world [4]. Declining leatherback numbers have been attributed to anthropogenic factors such as fishing practices causing unsustainable adult mortality, egg poaching on nesting beaches, and habitat degradation [6,8,9] Natural processes such as beach location, tidal inundation, bacterial and fungal attack and low hatching success are thought to play a role in their demise [10,11,12,13,14]. Leatherbacks are classified as critically endangered by the Species Survival Commission (IUCN)[15] and are the only extant species within the family Dermochelyidae
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