Global research priorities for sea turtles: informing management and conservation in the 21st century

Abstract

ESR Endangered Species Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials ESR 11:245-269 (2010) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00279 Global research priorities for sea turtles: informing management and conservation in the 21st century M. Hamann1, M. H. Godfrey2, J. A. Seminoff3, K. Arthur4, P. C. R. Barata5, K. A. Bjorndal6, A. B. Bolten6, A. C. Broderick7, L. M. Campbell8, C. Carreras9, P. Casale10, M. Chaloupka11, S. K. F. Chan12, M. S. Coyne7,13, L. B. Crowder8, C. E. Diez14, P. H. Dutton3, S. P. Epperly15, N. N. FitzSimmons16, A. Formia17, M. Girondot18, G. C. Hays19, I. J. Cheng20, Y. Kaska21, R. Lewison22, J. A. Mortimer23, W. J. Nichols24, R. D. Reina25, K. Shanker26, J. R. Spotila27, J. Tomás28, B. P. Wallace29,30, T. M. Work31, J. Zbinden32, B. J. Godley7,* 1School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia 7Marine turtle Research Group, Centre for Ecology and Conservation, School of Biosciences, University of Exeter, Tremough Campus, Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK *Corresponding author. Email: b.j.godley@exeter.ac.ukAddresses for other authors are given in the electronic supplement at www.int-res.com/articles/suppl/n011p245_supp.pdf ABSTRACT: Over the past 3 decades, the status of sea turtles and the need for their protection to aid population recovery have increasingly captured the interest of government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the general public worldwide. This interest has been matched by increased research attention, focusing on a wide variety of topics relating to sea turtle biology and ecology, together with the interrelations of sea turtles with the physical and natural environments. Although sea turtles have been better studied than most other marine fauna, management actions and their evaluation are often hindered by the lack of data on turtle biology, human–turtle interactions, turtle population status and threats. In an effort to inform effective sea turtle conservation a list of priority research questions was assembled based on the opinions of 35 sea turtle researchers from 13 nations working in fields related to turtle biology and/or conservation. The combined experience of the contributing researchers spanned the globe as well as many relevant disciplines involved in conservation research. An initial list of more than 200 questions gathered from respondents was condensed into 20 metaquestions and classified under 5 categories: reproductive biology, biogeography, population ecology, threats and conservation strategies. KEY WORDS: Sea turtles · Global priorities · Research · Conservation Full text in pdf format Supplementary material PreviousNextCite this article as: Hamann M, Godfrey MH, Seminoff JA, Arthur K and others (2010) Global research priorities for sea turtles: informing management and conservation in the 21st century. Endang Species Res 11:245-269. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00279Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in ESR Vol. 11, No. 3. Online publication date: May 26, 2010 Print ISSN: 1863-5407; Online ISSN: 1613-4796 Copyright © 2010 Inter-Research.