Multidecadal fluctuations in green turtle hatchling production related to climate variability.

The state of Campeche, Mexico, harbors one of the largest green turtle (Chelonia mydas) rookeries of the Wider Caribbean Region. Since the 1970s, harvesting of this population was common practice, but it has since ceased, and the population is rebounding as a consequence. In this rookery, during the past 37 years (1984-2020), the positive relationship between the annual number of nesting females and the number of hatchlings they produce has revealed a long-term population signal that we postulate could be related to environmental factors.

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.

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.

Ecological regime shift drives declining growth rates of sea turtles throughout the West Atlantic.

Somatic growth is an integrated, individual-based response to environmental conditions, especially in ectotherms. Growth dynamics of large, mobile animals are particularly useful as bio-indicators of environmental change at regional scales. We assembled growth rate data from throughout the West Atlantic for green turtles, Chelonia mydas, which are long-lived, highly migratory, primarily herbivorous mega-consumers that may migrate over hundreds to thousands of kilometers.