Island-finding ability of marine turtles
(2003) In Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences 270(Suppl. 1, Aug 7). p.5-7- Abstract
- Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) swim from foraging grounds along the Brazilian coast to Ascension Island to nest, over 2200 km distant in the middle of the equatorial Atlantic. To test the hypothesis that turtles use wind-borne cues to locate Ascension Island we found turtles that had just completed nesting and then moved three individuals 50 km northwest (downwind) of the island and three individuals 50 km southeast (upwind). Their subsequent movements were tracked by satellite. Turtles released downwind returned to Ascension Island within 1, 2 and 4 days, respectively. By contrast, those released upwind had far more difficulty in relocating Ascension Island, two eventually returning after 10 and 27 days and the third heading back to... (More)
- Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) swim from foraging grounds along the Brazilian coast to Ascension Island to nest, over 2200 km distant in the middle of the equatorial Atlantic. To test the hypothesis that turtles use wind-borne cues to locate Ascension Island we found turtles that had just completed nesting and then moved three individuals 50 km northwest (downwind) of the island and three individuals 50 km southeast (upwind). Their subsequent movements were tracked by satellite. Turtles released downwind returned to Ascension Island within 1, 2 and 4 days, respectively. By contrast, those released upwind had far more difficulty in relocating Ascension Island, two eventually returning after 10 and 27 days and the third heading back to Brazil after failing to find its way back to the island. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that wind-borne cues are used by turtles to locate Ascension Island. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/131323
- author
- Hays, Graeme C. ; Åkesson, Susanne LU ; Broderick, Annette C. ; Glen, Fiona ; Godley, Brendan J. ; Papi, Floriano and Luschi, Paolo
- organization
- publishing date
- 2003
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
- volume
- 270
- issue
- Suppl. 1, Aug 7
- pages
- 5 - 7
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000184786900002
- scopus:0042030919
- ISSN
- 1471-2954
- DOI
- 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0022
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- aac88d00-e3d0-4ac0-9d16-a20da619790e (old id 131323)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 16:18:30
- date last changed
- 2024-01-11 05:35:35
@article{aac88d00-e3d0-4ac0-9d16-a20da619790e,
abstract = {{Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) swim from foraging grounds along the Brazilian coast to Ascension Island to nest, over 2200 km distant in the middle of the equatorial Atlantic. To test the hypothesis that turtles use wind-borne cues to locate Ascension Island we found turtles that had just completed nesting and then moved three individuals 50 km northwest (downwind) of the island and three individuals 50 km southeast (upwind). Their subsequent movements were tracked by satellite. Turtles released downwind returned to Ascension Island within 1, 2 and 4 days, respectively. By contrast, those released upwind had far more difficulty in relocating Ascension Island, two eventually returning after 10 and 27 days and the third heading back to Brazil after failing to find its way back to the island. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that wind-borne cues are used by turtles to locate Ascension Island.}},
author = {{Hays, Graeme C. and Åkesson, Susanne and Broderick, Annette C. and Glen, Fiona and Godley, Brendan J. and Papi, Floriano and Luschi, Paolo}},
issn = {{1471-2954}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{Suppl. 1, Aug 7}},
pages = {{5--7}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Island-finding ability of marine turtles}},
url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/4632758/624196.pdf}},
doi = {{10.1098/rsbl.2003.0022}},
volume = {{270}},
year = {{2003}},
}