Trends in Reproductive Indicators of Green and Hawksbill Sea Turtles over a 30-Year Monitoring Period in the Southern Gulf of Mexico and Their Conservation Implications.

ABSTRACT: Long-term monitoring programs of species at risk are efficacious tools to assess population changes, evaluate conservation strategies, and improve management practices to ensure populations reach levels at which they can fulfill their ecological roles. For sea turtles, annual nesting beach surveys are the most accessible method to estimating the population abundance and reproductive output, especially when these are done in primary nesting sites. However, little data exist on the long-term assessment of these parameters. Here, we present the trends of the nest abundance, female size, hatching, and emergence success of hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green (Chelonia mydas) turtles at key nesting beaches in the southern Gulf of Mexico over 31 years (from 1990 to 2021). T

SUBMITTER: Lopez-Castro MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9739169 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature