Effect of maternal foraging habitat on offspring quality in the loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta).

ABSTRACT: Exploring a trade-off between quantity and quality of offspring allows differences in the fitness between alternative life histories to be accurately evaluated. We addressed the mechanism that maintains alternative life histories (small oceanic planktivores vs. large neritic benthivores) observed in a loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) population, which has been suggested to be environmental, based on the lack of genetic structure and a large difference in reproductive output. We examined whether maternal foraging habitat affects offspring quality, by measuring the morphology, emergence success, and righting response of hatchlings following incubation in a common open sand area over the whole nesting season at Yakushima Island, Japan, and by recording early growth and survival of offs

SUBMITTER: Hatase H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5869213 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature