Environmental predictors of foraging and transit behaviour in flatback turtles Natator depressus

M Thums,M Meekan,D Waayers,C Pattiaratchi,J Bernus,Z Huang

doi:10.3354/esr00818

Abstract

This research was partially supported by Browse LNG Development Joint Venture Participants through the operator Woodside Energy Limited. M.T. was supported by an Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre (AIMS/CSIRO/UWA) Collaborative Post-doctoral Fellowship. Part of this work was undertaken for the Marine Biodiversity Hub, a collaborative partnership supported through funding from the Australian Government's National Environmental Science Programme.

Highlights

Knowledge of the ecology of a species is central to the implementation of effective conservation strategies
During the inter-nesting phase, flatback turtles remained at an average distance of 15.75 ± 12.25 km from West Lacepede Island, in water depths of 16 ± 3 m, with the core 50% utilisation distribution centred on the islands and encompassing 218.69 km2 (Fig. 2a, Table 3)
Our analysis shows that this was not the case and that turtles moving from the Lacepede Islands were associated with clear water and some distance from shore (70 to 80 km), with a high probability of presence in water depths of 60 to 90 m

Summary

Introduction

Knowledge of the ecology of a species is central to the implementation of effective conservation strategies. The objective determination of behavioural states can identify biologically important areas and provide objective designation of marine protected areas so that they encompass key sites used by vulnerable species (Hays 2014) This combination of telemetry methods and statespace modelling approaches to data analysis is being used to understand the ecology of marine megafauna that inhabit pelagic environments, such as marine reptiles, cetaceans and sharks (Costa et al 2012). The progress of this field is driven by potential for conflicts between megafauna and industry, projects exploiting offshore oil and gas resources Such developments may expose these megafauna to a number of pressures related to industrial construction and operation (Pendoley 2005, Waayers et al 2011), including noise and vibration, habitat modification, vessel movements, and marine discharges. These issues are of particular concern for megafauna because they tend to have life history traits that make them vulnerable to population declines, such as low rates of reproduction, long lives and slow growth rates (Hays et al 2016)

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Conclusion