Thermal conditions of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nests in the largest rookery in the eastern Mediterranean

dc.contributor.author

Türkozan, O

dc.contributor.author

Yılmaz, C

dc.contributor.author

Almpanidou, V

dc.contributor.author

Godfrey, MH

dc.contributor.author

Mazaris, AD

dc.date.accessioned

2023-05-01T14:16:37Z

dc.date.available

2023-05-01T14:16:37Z

dc.date.issued

2023-01-01

dc.date.updated

2023-05-01T14:16:36Z

dc.description.abstract

Climate change impacts on vertebrates have many implications. The thermal conditions of vertebrates during incubation are known to influence morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits. Thus, incubation temperatures have consequences for ecological and evolutionary processes, and for certain reptiles can determine sex. For oviparous reptiles, information on the thermal environment of nests is often used to estimate sex ratio, metabolic heat, and their effects on hatching success. This critical baseline information is not always available for all species in all regions, hampering our ability to design analyses that could direct future management and conservation actions. Such is the case for green turtles in the Mediterranean, which nest at many different sites but few of which have had their thermal environment documented in detail. We recorded temperature in 225 green turtle nests (between 2009 and 2013) and 12 control sites in the sand (15, 30, and 45 m distance from high tide line between 2010 and 2013) at 75 cm depth at Akyatan beach, Turkey. The mean temperature of the nests ranged from 28.4 to 33.5°C, and those experiencing high temperatures exhibited low hatching success. The observed thermal environment within the nests exhibited a narrow range relative to the control sites, with daily temperature fluctuations in nests ranging from 0.1°C up to 4.5°C. The nest temperature was strongly negatively correlated with incubation duration, while metabolic heating was highest in the last third of the incubation duration, and was significantly correlated to clutch size

dc.identifier.issn

1863-5407

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1613-4796

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https://hdl.handle.net/10161/27264

dc.language

en

dc.publisher

Inter-Research Science Center

dc.relation.ispartof

Endangered Species Research

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10.3354/esr01219

dc.title

Thermal conditions of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nests in the largest rookery in the eastern Mediterranean

dc.type

Journal article

pubs.begin-page

63

pubs.end-page

73

pubs.organisational-group

Duke

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Nicholas School of the Environment

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Marine Science and Conservation

pubs.publication-status

Published

pubs.volume

50

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