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Patterns in the emergence of green (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtle hatchlings from their nests

journal contribution
posted on 2005-04-01, 00:00 authored by F Glen, A Broderick, B Godley, Graeme HaysGraeme Hays
The emergence patterns of both green (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtle hatchlings were observed in great detail over three seasons at Alagadi beach, northern Cyprus. In total, 38 green turtle and 50 loggerhead turtle nests were monitored, accounting for the emergence of 2,807 and 2,259 hatchlings, respectively. We quantified these emergences into 397 green turtle and 302 loggerhead turtle emergence groups. Overall, 85.0% of green turtle and 79.5% of loggerhead turtle groups emerged at night; these accounted for 85.5 and 90.8% of hatchlings, respectively. The remaining emergences were dispersed throughout the day for green turtle nests but confined to the morning in loggerhead turtle nests. Hatchling emergence from individual nests occurred over periods of between 1 and 7 nights, with most hatchlings typically emerging on the first night. Group sizes of green turtles emerging during the day were significantly smaller than those emerging at night. Hatchlings of both species that emerged from nests during the day had longer emergence durations than those that emerged from nests at night only.

History

Journal

Marine biology

Volume

146

Issue

5

Pagination

1039 - 1049

Publisher

Springer

Location

Berlin, Germany

ISSN

0025-3162

eISSN

1432-1793

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2005, Springer

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