Age and size at maturation- and adult-stage duration for loggerhead sea turtles in the western North Atlantic.

Age at maturation data are integral to understanding dynamics of threatened and endangered sea turtle populations. However, full characterization of this parameter requires information regarding variability in growth rates and both size and age at maturation potentially resulting from diverse environmental and biological influences. To address the need for these data, skeletochronological analysis was conducted for US Atlantic loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta. The influence of different covariates on back-calculated growth rates for the years 1976-2010 was investigated, and while growth decreased overall with size and age, at larger sizes, male growth rates were higher than those of females. Growth varied significantly by calendar year, increasing from 1990 to 1996/1997 and subsequently decreasing through the end of the study period. Mean sizes [cm straightline carapace length (SCL)] corresponding to the 'rapprochement' skeletal growth mark associated with maturation were 90.5 for females (range 75.0-101.3) and 95.8 for males (range 80.6-103.8). Ages at maturation estimated from (1) the rapprochement skeletal growth mark; (2) back-calculated SCL-at-age data; and (3) bootstrapping and fitting Fabens modified von Bertalanffy growth curve to back-calculated growth data were very similar between approaches, but demonstrated a wide possible range. Mean age predictions associated with minimum and mean maturation SCLs were 22.5-25 and 36-38 years for females and 26-28 and 37-42 years for males. Post-maturation longevity (i.e., adult-stage duration) was similar for males and females, ranging from 4 to 46 years (mean 19 years). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]