Meeting Abstract
Emergence from the nest represents a pivotal life history event that can significantly affect the survival of sea turtles. The type and abundance of predators, the type and availability of orientation cues, and the ambient temperature can all vary depending on the time at which hatchlings emerge. During the 2014 nesting season we utilized time-lapse cameras to monitor emergence for a sub-set of Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) nests within the protective egg hatcheries (i.e. fenced off areas of the nesting beach) at Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, the primary nesting beach for this species. The thermal threshold hypothesis was not supported by our study, as time of emergence did not vary significantly over the nesting season and no correlation between date and time of emergence was detected. Our results supported the decreasing thermal gradient hypothesis, as all documented nests emerged during the decreasing phase of the daily temperature cycle, indicating this may be a cue utilized by emerging hatchling Kemp’s ridleys. Hatchling emergence times may be a species and/or population specific behavior related to the ecology of specific nesting beaches. Further, the results from this study suggest it may be advantageous for programs which move nests to egg hatcheries to release hatchlings at natural emergence times in order to mimic the natural behavior which may have evolved to maximize survival.
