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Measuring the energy requirements of animals under natural conditions and determining how acquired energy is allocated to specific activities is a central theme in ecophysiology., Turtle reproductive output is fundamentally linked with their energy balance so a detailed understanding of marine turtle energy requirements during the different phases of their life cycle at sea is essential for their conservation., We used the non-invasive accelerometry technique to investigate the activity patterns and energy expenditure ( EE) of adult green turtles ( Chelonia mydas) foraging year-round at a seagrass meadow in Mayotte ( n = 13) and during simulated oceanic migration (displacement from the nesting beach) off Mohéli ( n = 1), in the south-western Indian Ocean., At the foraging site, turtles divided their days between foraging benthically on the shallow seagrass meadow during daylight hours and resting at greater depth on the inner side of the reef slope at night. Estimated oxygen consumption rates (s [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foraging success for pelagic vertebrates may be revealed by horizontal and vertical movement patterns. We show markedly different patterns for leatherback turtles in the North Atlantic versus Eastern Pacific, which feed on gelatinous zooplankton that are only occasionally found in high densities. In the Atlantic, travel speed was characterized by two modes, indicative of high foraging success at low speeds (<15 km d-1) and transit at high speeds (20-45 km d-1). Only a single mode was evident in the Pacific, which occurred at speeds of 21 km d-1 indicative of transit. The mean dive depth was more variable in relation to latitude but closer to the mean annual depth of the thermocline and nutricline for North Atlantic than Eastern Pacific turtles. The most parsimonious explanation for these findings is that Eastern Pacific turtles rarely achieve high foraging success. This is the first support for foraging behaviour differences between populations of this critically endangered species and suggests that longer periods searching for prey may be hindering population recovery in the Pacific while aiding population maintenance in the Atlantic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sea turtles are long-distance migrants with considerable behavioural plasticity in terms of migratory patterns, habitat use and foraging sites within and among populations. However, for the most widely migrating turtle, the leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea, studies combining data from individuals of different populations are uncommon. Such studies are however critical to better understand intra- and inter-population variability and take it into account in the implementation of conservation strategies of this critically endangered species. Here, we investigated the movements and diving behaviour of 16 Atlantic leatherback turtles from three different nesting sites and one foraging site during their post-breeding migration to assess the potential determinants of intra- and inter-population variability in migratory patterns. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using satellite-derived behavioural and oceanographic data, we show that turtles used Temporary Residence Areas (TRAs) distributed all around the Atlantic Ocean: 9 in the neritic domain and 13 in the oceanic domain. These TRAs did not share a common oceanographic determinant but on the contrary were associated with mesoscale surface oceanographic features of different types (i.e., altimetric features and/or surface chlorophyll a concentration). Conversely, turtles exhibited relatively similar horizontal and vertical behaviours when in TRAs (i.e., slow swimming velocity/sinuous path/shallow dives) suggesting foraging activity in these productive regions. Migratory paths and TRAs distribution showed interesting similarities with the trajectories of passive satellite-tracked drifters, suggesting that the general dispersion pattern of adults from the nesting sites may reflect the extent of passive dispersion initially experienced by hatchlings. Conclusions/Significance: Intra- and inter-population behavioural variability may therefore be linked with initial hatchling drift scenarios and be highly influenced by environmental conditions. This high degree of behavioural plasticity in Atlantic leatherback turtles makes species-targeted conservation strategies challenging and stresses the need for a larger dataset (>100 individuals) for providing general recommendations in terms of conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. Investigating the foraging patterns of free-ranging species is essential to estimate energy/time budgets for assessing their real reproductive strategy. Leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli 1761), commonly considered as capital breeders, have been reported recently to prospect actively during the breeding season in French Guiana, Atlantic Ocean. In this study we investigate the possibility of this active behaviour being associated with foraging, by studying concurrently diving and beak movement patterns in gravid females equipped with IMASEN (Inter-MAndibular Angle SENsor). 2. Four turtles provided data for periods varying from 7·3 to 56·1 h while exhibiting continuous short and shallow benthic dives. Beak movement (‘b-m’) events occurred in 34% of the dives, on average 1·8 ± 1·4 times per dive. These b-m events lasted between 1·5 and 20 s and occurred as isolated or grouped (two to five consecutive beak movements) events in 96·0 ± 4·0% of the recorded cases, and to a lesser extent in series (> five consecutive beak movements). 3. Most b-m events occurred during wiggles at the bottom of U- and W-shaped dives and at the beginning and end of the bottom phase of the dives. W-shaped dives were associated most frequently with beak movements (65% of such dives) and in particular with grouped beak movements. 4. Previous studies proposed wiggles to be indicator of predatory activity, U- and W-shaped dives being putative foraging dives. Beak movements recorded in leatherbacks during the first hours of their internesting interval in French Guiana may be related to feeding attempts. 5. In French Guiana, leatherbacks show different mouth-opening patterns for different dive patterns, suggesting that they forage opportunistically on occasional prey, with up to 17% of the dives appearing to be successful feeding dives. 6. This study highlights the contrasted strategies adopted by gravid leatherbacks nesting on the Pacific coasts of Costa Rica, in the deep-water Caribbean Sea and in the French Guianan shallow continental shelf, and may be related to different local prey accessibility among sites. Our results may help to explain recently reported site-specific individual body size and population dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Understanding food web functioning through the study of natural bio-indicators may constitute a valuable and original approach. In the context of jellyfish proliferation in many overexploited marine ecosystems studying the spatio-temporal foraging patterns of the giant “jellyvore” leatherback turtle turns out to be particularly relevant. Here we analyzed long-term tracking data to assess spatio-temporal foraging patterns in 21 leatherback turtles during their pluri-annual migration in the Northern Atlantic. Through an analytical approach based on the animal''s own motion (independent of currents) and diving behavior distinct zones of high and low foraging success were identified. High foraging success occurred in a sub-equatorial zone spanning the width of the Atlantic and at high (>30°N) latitudes. Between these zones in the centre of North Atlantic gyre there was low foraging success. This “ocean desert” area was traversed at high speed by leatherbacks on their way to more productive areas at higher latitudes. Animals traveled slowly in high foraging success areas and dived shallower (17.2±8.0kmday−1 and 53.6±33.1m mean±SD respectively) than in low foraging success areas (51.0±13.1kmday−1 and 81.8±56.2m mean±SD respectively). These spatio-temporal foraging patterns seem to relatively closely match the main features of the integrated meso-zooplankton distribution in the North Atlantic. Our method of defining high foraging success areas is intuitive and relatively easy to implement but also takes into account the impact of oceanic currents on animal''s behavior. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]