Bonnet Xavier, Brischoux François, Bonnet Christophe, Plichon Patrice, Fauvel Thomas
Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Unité Mixte de Recherche 7372 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Université de La Rochelle, Villiers-en-Bois, France.
Centre Hospitalier Territorial Gaston Bourret, Nouméa, Nouvelle Calédonie, France.
PLoS One. 2014 Mar 26;9(3):e90246. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0090246. eCollection 2014.
Destruction and pollution of coral reefs threaten these marine biodiversity hot stops which shelter more than two thirds of sea snake species. Notably, in many coral reef ecosystems of the Western Pacific Ocean, large populations of sea kraits (amphibious sea snakes) have drastically declined during the past three decades. Protecting remaining healthy populations is thus essential. In New Caledonia, coral reefs shelter numerous sea krait colonies spread throughout an immense lagoon (24,000 km2). Sea kraits feed on coral fish but lay their eggs on land. However, ecological information on reproduction and juveniles is extremely fragmentary, precluding protection of key habitats for reproduction. Our 10 years mark recapture study on Yellow sea kraits (L. saintgironsi >8,700 individuals marked) revealed that most neonates aggregate in highly localized coastal sites, where they feed and grow during several months before dispersal. Hundreds of females emigrate seasonally from remote populations (>50 km away) to lay their eggs in these coastal nurseries, and then return home. Protecting these nurseries is a priority to maintain recruitment rate, and to retain sea krait populations in the future.
珊瑚礁的破坏和污染威胁着这些海洋生物多样性热点地区，这里庇护着超过三分之二的海蛇物种。值得注意的是，在西太平洋的许多珊瑚礁生态系统中，过去三十年里，大量的海蝰（两栖海蛇）种群数量急剧下降。因此，保护剩余的健康种群至关重要。在新喀里多尼亚，珊瑚礁庇护着众多海蝰群落，这些群落分布在一个巨大的泻湖（24000平方公里）中。海蝰以珊瑚鱼为食，但在陆地上产卵。然而，关于繁殖和幼体的生态信息极其零碎，这使得关键繁殖栖息地无法得到保护。我们对黄腹海蝰（L. saintgironsi，标记个体超过8700只）进行的为期10年的标记重捕研究表明，大多数新生幼体聚集在高度本地化的沿海地点，它们在这些地方觅食并生长数月后才会扩散。数百只雌性海蝰会季节性地从偏远种群（距离超过50公里）迁徙到这些沿海育幼地产卵，然后再返回栖息地。保护这些育幼地是维持补充率以及未来保留海蝰种群的首要任务。
