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Adult Sea Turtle Migrations

Kudos Demo Group

DOI: 10.26303/cp7q-xc08

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What is it about?

Our research project has found that adult sea-turtle migrations and their selection of feeding sites are directly influenced by their past experiences as little hatchlings adrift in ocean currents.

When they breed, adult sea turtles return to the beach where they were born. After breeding, adult sea turtles typically migrate several hundreds to thousands of kilometres to their feeding habitats. However, there has been little information about how turtles chose their feeding sites. For example, some turtles migrate to feeding habitats thousands of kilometres away, while other turtles don’t migrate or feed in the open ocean.

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Why is it important?

The study is important because we looked at what habitats the turtles would have experienced as juveniles. New-born hatchling sea turtles are too small to track with satellite tags. However, when they emerge from their eggs, they head to the ocean and drift with ocean currents to their juvenile development habitats. The researchers combined all the available satellite tracking data on adult turtles with models of how the world's sea water moves past nesting sites to study where the hatchling sea turtles drift to.

Perspectives

When I first started my research in this area 25 years ago it was considered a new and upcoming area. I’m thrilled that is now a much better understood area. I’m really passionate about the environment and I hope our research inspires others to make discoveries that will help preserve our precious ecosystems.

David Sommer

University of Oxford

I have spent the last 7 years researching sea-turtles, but my entire life fascinated by them. This project is key in understanding how adult sea turtles choose their nesting sites based on their juvenile experiences with satellite tracking data that continues to amaze and surprise us.

Audience briefings3 total

  • Industry briefing

    Protecting future generations of turtle species: guidelines for industry

    Sea turtles are threatened by industrial processes. There is a risk that the knowledge inherited by turtles from their parents can be disrupted by human activity, particularly when this affects their breeding habitats. This can reduce sea turtle numbers. Coastline industries need to:

    1. Be aware of local turtle colonies and breeding sites
    2. Audit processes for outputs and activities that may affect these sites
    3. Put mitigating processes in place including training all staff to understand risks
    4. Provide regular reporting on processes and regular measurements of turtle habitat health.

  • Educator briefing

    Sea Turtle Resource Centre for Teachers

    We have created a sea turtle resource guide to provide you with all the information you need to teach your students about sea turtles and their habitats.

    The guide provides interesting and fun sea turtle facts, why they matter, what threats they face, and what we can all do to help sea turtles and the oceans where they live.

    There are a variety of resources and activities available including a link to download our new Turtle Tracker App that allows you and your students to track turtles we are researching in real time.

  • Press briefing

    New study finds evidence that sea turtles inherit magnetic maps from their parents

    LONDON, Feb 2020

    A newly published study shows for the first time that sea turtles inherit key information that helps them navigate. It had been previously thought that sea turtles navigate by directly following their parents and through their own experiences, but the new study shows for the first time that navigation routes can be passed on between generations, even without the turtles travelling the routes themselves.

    Through a major 4-year project involving tracking turtles by tags, following them by high-altitude drones and integrating satellite data, the team has uncovered how navigation is in fact passed on between turtle generations.

    Lead researcher and internationally renowned herpetologist, Prof David Sommer commented: “For the first time our international team have unlocked one of the great unknowns in turtle navigation. By understanding how turtle's internal ’sat nav' is programmed, we can better protect future generations of these species”.

    The findings are now being processed in more detail and it is anticipated that a number of follow up projects will ensue.

    ### The research has been jointly funded by Turtle Watch, Marine Ecosystems International and the Leonardo foundation.

    Press contact: info@growkudos.com or call 555 555 1234

Resources8 total

Who is involved?