Meeting Abstract
North Atlantic leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) undertake extensive migrations between highly productive foraging habitats in northern latitudes and nesting beaches in tropical and subtropical latitudes. While this migratory behavior has been documented in the wider Caribbean, the migratory movements of the leatherbacks nesting in South Florida are relatively understudied. Florida’s nesting population of leatherback turtles has increased 10.2% on average per year since 1979, yet little is known about the migrations to and from foraging habitats for this population. Recent research suggests that these individuals may be at an increased risk of interactions with coastal shrimp fisheries during internesting and post-nesting movements. Here, we analyzed δ13C and δ15N stable isotopes in whole blood in order to gain insight into the foraging ecology of the leatherback turtles nesting in South Florida and compared those data to previous studies in the Atlantic. We also tested whether the observed isotopic signatures were correlated with mtDNA haplotypes to examine the relationship between migratory foraging behavior and nesting site fidelity.
