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Journal article
Closing the gap: Mixed stock analysis of three foraging populations of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) on the Great Barrier Reef
PeerJ, Vol.6, e5651
2018
Abstract
A solid understanding of the spatial ecology of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) is fundamental to their effective conservation. Yet this species, like many marine migratory species, is challenging to monitor and manage because they utilise a variety of habitats that span wide spatio-temporal scales. To further elucidate the connectivity between green turtle rookeries and foraging populations, we sequenced the mtDNA control region of 278 turtles across three foraging sites from the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) spanning more than 330 km: Cockle Bay, Green Island and Low Isles. This was performed with a newly developed assay, which targets a longer fragment of mtDNA than previous studies. We used a mixed stock analysis (MSA), which utilises genetic data to estimate the relative proportion of genetically distinct breeding populations found at a given foraging ground. Haplotype and nucleotide diversity was also assessed. A total of 35 haplotypes were identified across all sites, 13 of which had not been found previously in any rookery. The MSA showed that the northern GBR (nGBR), Coral Sea (CS), southern GBR (sGBR) and New Caledonia (NC) stocks supplied the bulk of the turtles at all three sites, with small contributions from other rookeries in the region. Stock contribution shifted gradually from north to south, although sGBR/CS stock dominated at all three sites. The major change in composition occured between Cockle Bay and Low Isles. Our findings, together with other recent studies in this field, show that stock composition shifts with latitude as a natural progression along a coastal gradient. This phenomenon is likely to be the result of ocean currents influencing both post-hatchling dispersal and subsequent juvenile recruitment to diverse coastal foraging sites.
Details
- Title
- Closing the gap: Mixed stock analysis of three foraging populations of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) on the Great Barrier Reef
- Authors/Creators
- Karina Jones - James Cook UniversityMichael Jensen - National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationGraham Burgess - James Cook UniversityJohanna Leonhardt - ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef StudiesLynne van Herwerden - James Cook UniversityJulia Hazel - James Cook UniversityMark Hamann - James Cook UniversityIan Bell - Queensland Department of Environment and ScienceEllen Ariel - James Cook University
- Publication Details
- PeerJ, Vol.6, e5651
- Publisher
- IABO Hub
- Number of pages
- 18
- Grant note
- Sea Turtle FoundationWorld Wide Fund for Nature
The authors would like to thank Mr. Wytamma Wirth for his technical assistance. We would also like to acknowledge Sea Turtle Foundation and World Wide Fund for Nature for supporting this project. We are very grateful to Mr. Sam Dibella and many volunteers for assistance with fieldwork at Low Isles. Finally, we would like to thank the reviewers of this manuscript for their valuable comments.
- Identifiers
- 991005757833707891
- Copyright
- © 2018 Jones et al.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Murdoch University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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