Mixed stock analysis of juvenile green turtles aggregating at two foraging grounds in Fiji reveals major contribution from the American Samoa Management Unit

In this study we assessed the breeding population, or Management Unit (MU), origin of green turtles ( Chelonia mydas ) present at Yadua Island and Makogai Island foraging grounds in Fiji, central South Pacific. Based on analysis of mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequences from 150 immature green turtles cau...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 3150
Main Authors: Piovano, Susanna, Batibasaga, Aisake, Ciriyawa, Ana, LaCasella, Erin L., Dutton, Peter H.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 28.02.2019
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:
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631/158/2039
631/158/2464
631/158/672
Aquatic reptiles
Bayesian analysis
Breeding
Chelonia mydas
Haplotypes
Humanities and Social Sciences
Islands
Mitochondrial DNA
multidisciplinary
Nesting
Nucleotide sequence
Relative abundance
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Telemetry
American Samoa
Fiji
United States > US
French Polynesia
ISSN:2045-2322, 2045-2322
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In this study we assessed the breeding population, or Management Unit (MU), origin of green turtles ( Chelonia mydas ) present at Yadua Island and Makogai Island foraging grounds in Fiji, central South Pacific. Based on analysis of mitochondrial (mt) DNA sequences from 150 immature green turtles caught during surveys carried out in 2015–2016, we identified a total of 18 haplotypes, the most common being CmP22.1 (44%) which is a primary haplotype characterizing the American Samoa breeding population. Results of a Bayesian mixed-stock analysis reveals that the two foraging grounds are used by green turtles from the American Samoa MU (72%, Credible Interval (CI): 56–87%), New Caledonia MU (17%, CI: 6–26%) and French Polynesia MU (7%, CI: 0–23%). The prominence of the contribution we found from the American Samoa MU compared to that of French Polynesia, both which have historic telemetry and tagging data showing connectivity with Fijian foraging areas, may reflect the current relative abundance of these two nesting populations and draws attention to a need to update population surveys and identify any significant nesting in Fiji that may have been overlooked.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-39475-w