Ocean Sciences Department, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2011 May 11;6(5):e19905. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019905.
Tractable conservation measures for long-lived species require the intersection between protection of biologically relevant life history stages and a socioeconomically feasible setting. To protect breeding adults, we require knowledge of animal movements, how movement relates to political boundaries, and our confidence in spatial analyses of movement. We used satellite tracking and a switching state-space model to determine the internesting movements of olive ridley sea turtles (Lepidochelys olivacea) (n = 18) in Central Africa during two breeding seasons (2007-08, 2008-09). These movements were analyzed in relation to current park boundaries and a proposed transboundary park between Gabon and the Republic of Congo, both created to reduce unintentional bycatch of sea turtles in marine fisheries. We additionally determined confidence intervals surrounding home range calculations. Turtles remained largely within a 30 km radius from the original nesting site before departing for distant foraging grounds. Only 44.6 percent of high-density areas were found within the current park but the proposed transboundary park would incorporate 97.6 percent of high-density areas. Though tagged individuals originated in Gabon, turtles were found in Congolese waters during greater than half of the internesting period (53.7 percent), highlighting the need for international cooperation and offering scientific support for a proposed transboundary park. This is the first comprehensive study on the internesting movements of solitary nesting olive ridley sea turtles, and it suggests the opportunity for tractable conservation measures for female nesting olive ridleys at this and other solitary nesting sites around the world. We draw from our results a framework for cost-effective protection of long-lived species using satellite telemetry as a primary tool.
具有可操作性的长寿物种保护措施需要将生物相关的生命史阶段的保护与社会经济可行的环境相结合。为了保护繁殖期的成年个体，我们需要了解动物的运动情况、运动与政治边界的关系，以及我们对运动空间分析的信心。我们使用卫星跟踪和一个切换状态空间模型，来确定中非洲两只繁殖季节（2007-08 年，2008-09 年）期间橄榄绿海龟（Lepidochelys olivacea）的筑巢内移动（n=18）。这些运动与当前公园边界以及为减少海洋渔业中海龟意外误捕而设立的加蓬和刚果共和国之间的跨界公园有关。我们还确定了围绕栖息地计算的置信区间。海龟在离开原筑巢地前往遥远觅食地之前，大部分时间都在离 30 公里半径范围内。只有 44.6%的高密度区域位于当前公园内，但拟议的跨界公园将包含 97.6%的高密度区域。尽管标记个体来自加蓬，但在筑巢期间的一半以上时间里，在刚果水域发现了海龟（53.7%），这突显了国际合作的必要性，并为拟议的跨界公园提供了科学支持。这是对独居筑巢橄榄绿海龟筑巢内移动的首次全面研究，它表明在这一地区和世界各地的其他独居筑巢地，可以采取具有可操作性的保护措施来保护雌性筑巢的橄榄绿海龟。我们从研究结果中得出了一个使用卫星遥测作为主要工具来实现对长寿物种进行经济有效的保护的框架。
