Honors College Thesis
 

Surfacing Behavior of Juvenile Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta) in North Carolina

Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/0v838132t

Descriptions

Attribute NameValues
Creator
Abstract
  • Sea turtles are endangered species that can be censused with aerial surveys, but the number of turtles in an area must be extrapolated to include animals that are submerged. Twenty-one satellite tags were attached to juvenile loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in North Carolina. I analyzed surfacing and dive behavior recorded by the tags to determine whether time of day, time of year, location or wave height were important factors for development of more accurate population estimates in aerial surveys. I also analyzed differences in percent time at the surface based on a tag’s salt water switch and its depth gauge. I found significantly greater surfacing during the day during April-June for two turtles and greater surfacing during the night during October-December for four turtles. Turtles in offshore habitats surfaced more often than those in inshore and nearshore habitats. Only one turtle that experienced wave heights greater than 2.5m showed a negative correlation between surfacing and wave height. The depth gauge consistently recorded an order of magnitude greater percent time near the surface than the salt water switch, and overall trends in behavior were different, suggesting the salt water switch is inadequate for recording surfacing events for aerial survey extrapolations.
  • Key Words: Loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, surfacing behavior, satellite telemetry, salt water switch, depth gauge, wave height, time at depth
License
Resource Type
Date Available
Date Issued
Degree Level
Degree Name
Degree Field
Degree Grantor
Commencement Year
Advisor
Non-Academic Affiliation
Rights Statement
Publisher
Peer Reviewed
Language
Replaces

Relationships

Parents:

This work has no parents.

In Collection:

Items