Projected shifts in loggerhead sea turtle thermal habitat in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean due to climate change.

It is well established that sea turtles are vulnerable to atmospheric and oceanographic shifts associated with climate change. However, few studies have formally projected how their seasonal marine habitat may shift in response to warming ocean temperatures. Here we used a high-resolution global climate model and a large satellite tagging dataset to project changes in the future distribution of suitable thermal habitat for loggerheads along the northeastern continental shelf of the United States.

Riders on the storm: loggerhead sea turtles detect and respond to a major hurricane in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.

Background: Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, have considerable biological, ecological, and anthropogenic impacts. Hurricane Irene caused substantial economic damage when it hit the Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) off of the eastern United States in August of 2011. The MAB is highly stratified during the summer when a strong thermocline separates warm, surface water from deep, cold water, and this oceanographic phenomenon makes modeling hurricane strength difficult.

Life-history constraints on maximum population growth for loggerhead turtles in the northwest Atlantic.

Conservation planning for protected species often relies on estimates of life-history parameters. A commonly used parameter is the instantaneous maximum population growth rate ( ) that can be used to limit removals and design recovery targets. Estimation of can be challenging because of limited availability of species- and population-specific data and life-history information.