Green turtle diet is dominated by seagrass in the Western Indian Ocean except amongst gravid females

Green turtles ( Chelonia mydas ) are key herbivores of tropical and subtropical neritic habitats and play a major role in structuring seagrass meadows. We present the first detailed assessment of green turtle diet in the Western Indian Ocean using the gut contents of salvaged animals from three atol...

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Vydáno v:	Marine biology Ročník 166; číslo 10; s. 1 - 12
Hlavní autoři:	Stokes, Holly J., Mortimer, Jeanne A., Hays, Graeme C., Unsworth, Richard K. F., Laloë, Jacques-Olivier, Esteban, Nicole
Médium:	Journal Article
Jazyk:	angličtina
Vydáno:	Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2019 Springer Springer Nature B.V
Témata:	Adults Algae Aquatic reptiles Archipelagoes Atolls biomass Biomedical and Life Sciences Breeding breeding sites Chelonia mydas Diet digestive system Females Foraging Foraging habitats Freshwater & Marine Ecology gravid females Habitats Herbivores immatures Indian Ocean Life Sciences macroalgae Males Marine & Freshwater Sciences Marine biology Microbiology Nesting Oceanography Original Paper Population density Reptiles & amphibians Satellite tracking satellites Sea grasses seagrasses Seaweeds Seychelles Substrates Surveys Tropical climate Turtles Zoology Canada Indian Ocean Australia Japan Seychelles
ISSN:	0025-3162, 1432-1793
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Shrnutí:	Green turtles ( Chelonia mydas ) are key herbivores of tropical and subtropical neritic habitats and play a major role in structuring seagrass meadows. We present the first detailed assessment of green turtle diet in the Western Indian Ocean using the gut contents of salvaged animals from three atolls in the Republic of Seychelles separated from each other by 400–825 km: Cosmoledo (adults, n = 12), Farquhar (adults, n = 33; immature, n = 1) collected in 1982–1983; and Desroches (immatures, n = 8) in 2016–2018. We report the first comparison of the diets of gravid females ( n = 17), males ( n = 26) and non-breeding females ( n = 2) at sites providing both foraging and breeding habitat. Seagrass (mostly Thalassodendron ciliatum ) dominated the diet, accounting for 95% of the mean gut content biomass for males and non-breeding females but only 58% for gravid females, alongside relatively large amounts of substrate (14%) and macroalgae (13%). Satellite tracking of post-nesting green turtles from Chagos Archipelago in 2016 located foraging sites at Farquhar Atoll that coincided with capture locations of 26 of the 33 adult turtles sampled there in 1983. In situ surveys of those sites in 2018 revealed extensive nearly monospecific beds of T. ciliatum. The prominence of seagrass in the diet of green turtles and connectivity between foraging and nesting habitats throughout the region illustrate the need to conserve and monitor seagrass habitats of the Western Indian Ocean especially in the context of changing green turtle population densities.
Bibliografie:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 14 content type line 23
ISSN:	0025-3162 1432-1793
DOI:	10.1007/s00227-019-3584-3