High fidelity of sea turtles to their foraging grounds revealed by satellite tracking and capture-mark-recapture: New insights for the establishment of key marine conservation areas

Flora Siegwalt (1) , Simon Benhamou (2) , Marc Girondot (3) , Lorène Jeantet (1) , Jordan Martin (1) , Marc Bonola (1) , Pierre Lelong (1) , Clément Grand (1) , Philippine Chambault (4) , Abdelwahab Benhalilou (5) , Céline Murgale (5) , Thomas Maillet (5) , Lucas Andreani (5) , Guilhem Campistron (5) , François Jacaria (5) , Gaëlle Hiélard (6) , Alexandre Arqué (6) , Denis Etienne (7) , Julie Gresser (7) , Sidney Régis (1) , Nicolas Lecerf (1) , Cédric Frouin (1) , Fabien Lefebvre (8) , Nathalie Aubert (8) , Fabien Védie (7) , Cyrille Barnerias (7) , Laurent Thieulle (1) , Christelle Guimera (1) , Myriam Bouaziz (1) , Adrien Pinson , Frédéric Flora (1) , Francis George , Joffrey Eggenspieler , Thierry Woignier (9) , Jean-Pierre Allenou (10) , Laurent Louis-Jean (11) , Bénédicte Chanteur (11) , Christelle Béranger (11) , Jessica Crillon , Aude Brador , Caroline Habold (1) , Yvon Le Maho (1) , Jean-Patrice Robin (1) , Damien Chevallier (1)

1 DEPE-IPHC - Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie
2 CEFE - Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
3 ESE - Ecologie Systématique et Evolution
4 UMR MARBEC - MARine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation
5 Association POEMM - Association POEMM
6 Office de l'Eau Martinique
7 DEAL - Direction de l'environnement de l'aménagement et du Logement - Martinique
8 ACWAA Association
9 IMBE - Institut méditerranéen de biodiversité et d'écologie marine et continentale
10 IFREMER - Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer
11 PNR Martinique - Parc naturel régional de la Martinique

Movement ecology studies are essential to protect highly mobile threatened species such as the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), classified as an endangered species by the IUCN. In 2019, the South Atlantic subpopulation has been downlisted to ‘Least Concern’, but the maintenance of this status strongly relies on the pursuit of research and conservation, especially on immatures, which contribute to the demographic renewal of this subpopulation. Identifying marine areas used by immatures is therefore crucial to implement efficient measures for the conservation of sea turtles in the Caribbean. We analysed data of capture-mark-recapture of 107 (out of 299) immatures recaptured at least once in Martinique, and satellite tracked 24 immatures to investigate their site fidelity and habitat use. Our results revealed a strong fidelity to foraging grounds, with mean residence times higher than 2 years, and with a high degree of affinity for specific areas within the coastal marine vegetation strip. Home ranges (95% kernel contour) and core areas (50% kernel contour) varied from 0.17 to 235.13 km2 (mean ± SD = 30.73 ± 54.34 km2) and from 0.03 to 22.66 km2 (mean ± SD = 2.95 ± 5.06 km2), respectively. Our findings shed light on a critical developmental area for immature green turtles in the French West Indies, and should help to refine Regional Management Units and reinforce the cooperative network aiming at ensuring conservation of the species at international scale.

Mots clés: green turtle; habitat use; home range; residency; developmental area; seagrass

Domaines: Biodiversité et Ecologie; Zoologie des vertébrés

Flora Siegwalt, Simon Benhamou, Marc Girondot, Lorène Jeantet, Jordan Martin, et al.. High fidelity of sea turtles to their foraging grounds revealed by satellite tracking and capture-mark-recapture: New insights for the establishment of key marine conservation areas. Biological Conservation, 2020, 250, pp.108742. ⟨10.1016/j.biocon.2020.108742⟩. ⟨hal-02927348⟩