Meeting Abstract
A thorough discussion of the status of a threatened or endangered organism would not be complete without describing key life history behavior. In some cases, animals can be difficult to access, and behavior cannot be directly observed. In some extreme examples, one sex can be easily observed while the other remains cryptic. Sex ratios, population size and relatedness of individuals are important metrics of population status. While primary sex ratios of marine turtles are estimated by an extrapolation incubation conditions, adult sex ratios are primarily determined through census counts of nesting females. Numbers of adult males are enigmatic. Alternative assessment techniques include using molecular markers to identify individuals as well as fundamental relationships among males and females within a population. Successful male breeding numbers can be estimated using exclusion analysis (by comparing maternal genotypes to offspring genotypes). Typically, adult sex ratios differ from those estimated for hatchlings. We are increasing the accuracy of current adult sex ratio estimates in Florida to add to our understanding of effective population size. We compare the successful breeding sex ratios (the number of males and females contributing to a population) for two species of sea turtles nesting in Florida to assess mating behavior and diversity in two growing populations and refine understanding of management units beyond nest counts.
