Archaeological evidence for long-term human impacts on sea turtle foraging behaviour

Autor: Eric Guiry, J. Ryan Kennedy, Corey Malcom, Mariah Miller, Olivia Hall, Michael Buckley, Paul Szpak
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2024
Předmět:
Zdroj: Royal Society Open Science, Vol 11, Iss 7 (2024)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 2054-5703
DOI: 10.1098/rsos.240120
Popis: Early conservation efforts to prevent the loss of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) from the Caribbean Sea jumpstarted marine habitat and biodiversity protection. However, even there, limitations on historical observations of turtle ecology have hampered efforts to contextualize foraging behaviours for conservation management. We integrate isotopic and zooarchaeological evidence from green sea turtles harvested at the Miskito Cays (Nicaragua) to assess foraging behaviour before and after a step change in harvesting intensity. Highly structured isotopic evidence shows greater foraging adaptability in earlier populations. This provides a counterpoint to recent synthesis, suggesting the ecological non-exchangeability of sea turtles, which complicates conservation planning focused on genetic-stock-based repopulation. In contrast, our results suggest future populations would have a capacity for higher degrees of ecological exchangeability than current perspectives allow. This highlights a need to consider the kinds of longer term perspectives, such as those offered by archaeological materials, when planning for future sea turtle recovery.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals