ESR 10:245-254 (2009)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00164

ABSTRACT: We demonstrate the use of pop-off satellite archival tags (PSAT)-derived geolocations to determine the most probable tracks (MPTs) of olive ridley sea turtles Lepidochelys olivacea  off Costa Rica. We use a Kalman filter state-space model (KFSST) that uses light-based longitude and latitude and sea surface temperatures (SST). PSATs placed on 14 turtles remained fixed for an average 53 d (range: 29 to 111 d). The average reduction in longitude and latitude standard deviations was ϕ_lon = 0.62 and ϕ_lat = 0.28 between the raw and KFSST-derived MPTs, respectively. Geolocations were linked in time to oceanographic features such as SST and chlorophyll a, as reported by satellite-based sensors. Turtles went in all directions from their respective release points, independent of year and capture type (longline-caught vs. hand-caught). Turtles remained within a SST range between 23.3 and 30.5°C (mean = 27.1°C), with over 75% of all recorded temperatures between 25.0 and 28.0°C. Turtle locations were associated with mean chlorophyll a = 0.37 mg m^–3. MPT data suggest that turtles spent a disproportionate amount of time in the general region of the Costa Rica Dome, a nutrient-rich quasi-permanent cyclonic eddy. Taken together, these findings support the increased utility of filtered light-based geolocation data in identifying environmental features characteristic of sea turtles’ preferred habitat, information which can be useful in managing regional fisheries.

KEY WORDS: Marine turtles · Geolocation · Pop-off satellite archival tags · Oceanographic features

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Cite this article as: Swimmer Y, McNaughton L, Foley D, Moxey L, Nielsen A (2009) Movements of olive ridley sea turtles Lepidochelys olivacea and associated oceanographic features as determined by improved light-based geolocation. Endang Species Res 10:245-254. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00164 Export citation Share:    Facebook - - linkedIn