Abstract
Juvenile loggerheads (Caretta caretta Linnaeus 1758) exhibit a strong foraging site fidelity to the Río de la Plata estuarine area, as shown by state-space models and kernel density estimations. Six satellite tagged individuals remained in the same 8000-km2 patch during 60 % of their foraging time (7–8 months). After overwintering in coastal, warmer waters off Brazil and Uruguay, individuals move back to the same foraging spot in successive years. The fidelity of juvenile loggerheads to the Rio de la Plata estuarine area encourages site-based conservation tools. Spatial planning may result in special management areas supported by current regional treaties.
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We dedicate this work to Dr. Hermes Mianzan, who passed away in 2014, thanking him for generously sharing the initial thoughts that made this article possible. We are also grateful to Lic. Sergio Rodriguez-Heredia, Gastón Delgado y Gabriela Palacios of Fundación Mundo Marino, Sr. Roberto Ubieta of Aquamarina—CECIM and Téc. Edith Corradini of Unión Argentina de Pescadores Artesanales for their assistance during fieldwork activities and a special thanks to Lic. Valeria Falabella of Wildlife Conservation Society and Dr. Daniel Hernández for their advices on data presentation and statistics, respectively. Thanks to fishermen from San Clemente del Tuyú that provided information on sea turtle occurrence and to the wildlife agencies of Buenos Aires and the National Wildlife Agency of Argentina that issued permits and supported our research. A special thanks to Dr. Manjula Tiwari of NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, and Dr. Alberto Piola for their financial support. Funding was provided by the Buenos Aires Zoo to DA, the Wildlife Conservation Society to CC, the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) CRN 2076 sponsored by the US National Science Foundation grant GEO-0452325 to Hermes Mianzan, the Fondo para la Conservación Ambiental from Banco Galicia, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo–Scott Neotropical Fund and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica FONCyT PICT 2013-2099 Prestamo BID to VGC. This study adhered to the legal requirements of Argentina and to all institutional guidelines. This is INIDEP Contribution No. 1955.
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González Carman, V., Bruno, I., Maxwell, S. et al. Habitat use, site fidelity and conservation opportunities for juvenile loggerhead sea turtles in the Río de la Plata, Argentina. Mar Biol 163, 20 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-015-2795-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-015-2795-5