Meeting Abstract

P1.4  Tuesday, Jan. 4  Seasonal Variation in Egg Size in the Loggerhead Sea Turtle: Resource Partitioning in the Nesting Female PATEL, K.V.*; WILLIAMS, K; FRICK, M; ROSTAL, D.C.; Georgia Southern University ketan_v_patel@georgiasouthern.edu

Understanding maternal contributions and strategies in reproduction can reflect how resources are allocated in response to resource availability and physiological constraints by the mother. Sea turtles have the highest egg yields of any oviparous non-avian reptiles, laying between 50 and 130 eggs multiple times in a single nesting season. Each clutch represents between 1 to 10 % of a female’s total body mass. Loggerhead sea turtles have high seasonal fecundity and display little variation in egg size, and instead maximize clutch size. The study was conducted on Wassaw Island National Wildlife Refuge during the 2008 to 2010 nesting seasons. In order to assess the direct maternal effects, comparisons of wet mass and dry mass of eggs collected as well as hatchling size and residual yolk mass will made. Egg size has been reported to decrease across the season while yolk mass and hatchling size remain relatively constant. Comparison of eggs laid in the early, middle, and late season will be performed as well. Both comparisons will give a more accurate estimate of how much actual nutrient investment is present in the eggs and the presence of any difference in investment between the periods.