Flint Jaylene, Flint Mark, Limpus Colin J, Mills Paul C
Veterinary-Marine Animal Research, Teaching and Investigation (Vet-MARTI) Unit, School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, Queensland, Australia.
Department of Preventative Veterinary Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 Aug 3;12(8):e0182548. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0182548. eCollection 2017.
Globally, tropical and subtropical regions have experienced an increased frequency and intensity in extreme weather events, ranging from severe drought to protracted rain depressions and cyclones, these coincided with an increased number of marine turtles subsequently reported stranded. This study investigated the relationship between environmental variables and marine turtle stranding. The environmental variables examined in this study, in descending order of importance, were freshwater discharge, monthly mean maximum and minimum air temperatures, monthly average daily diurnal air temperature difference and rainfall for the latitudinal hotspots (-27°, -25°, -23°, -19°) along the Queensland coast as well as for major embayments within these blocks. This study found that marine turtle strandings can be linked to these environmental variables at different lag times (3-12 months), and that cumulative (months added together for maximum lag) and non-cumulative (single month only) effects cause different responses. Different latitudes also showed different responses of marine turtle strandings, both in response direction and timing.Cumulative effects of freshwater discharge in all latitudes resulted in increased strandings 10-12 months later. For latitudes -27°, -25° and -23° non-cumulative effects for discharge resulted in increased strandings 7-12 months later. Latitude -19° had different results for the non-cumulative bay with strandings reported earlier (3-6 months). Monthly mean maximum and minimum air temperatures, monthly average daily diurnal air temperature difference and rainfall had varying results for each examined latitude. This study will allow first responders and resource managers to be better equipped to deal with increased marine turtle stranding rates following extreme weather events.
在全球范围内，热带和亚热带地区极端天气事件的发生频率和强度都有所增加，从严重干旱到持续的降雨低压和飓风，这些都与随后报告的海龟搁浅数量增加相吻合。本研究调查了环境变量与海龟搁浅之间的关系。本研究中考察的环境变量，按重要性降序排列，是昆士兰海岸纬度热点地区（-27°、-25°、-23°、-19°）以及这些区域内主要海湾的淡水排放量、月平均最高和最低气温、月平均每日昼夜温差和降雨量。本研究发现，海龟搁浅可能在不同的滞后时间（3至12个月）与这些环境变量相关，并且累积（将最长滞后时间内的月份相加）和非累积（仅单个月份）效应会导致不同的反应。不同纬度的海龟搁浅反应在方向和时间上也有所不同。所有纬度的淡水排放累积效应在10至12个月后导致搁浅数量增加。对于-27°、-25°和-23°纬度，排放的非累积效应在7至12个月后导致搁浅数量增加。-19°纬度在非累积海湾的情况有所不同，搁浅报告较早（3至6个月）。月平均最高和最低气温、月平均每日昼夜温差和降雨量在每个考察纬度的结果各不相同。本研究将使应急人员和资源管理者更好地应对极端天气事件后海龟搁浅率的增加。
