Chambault Philippine, Dalleau Mayeul, Nicet Jean-Benoît, Mouquet Pascal, Ballorain Katia, Jean Claire, Ciccione Stéphane, Bourjea Jérôme
1UMR MARBEC, IFREMER, CNRS, IRD, University of Montpellier, Avenue Jean Monnet, 34200 Sète, France.
Centre d'Etude et de Découverte des Tortues Marines (CEDTM), 6 chemin Dubuisson, Appt. 5, 97436 Saint-Leu, La Réunion France.
Mov Ecol. 2020 Jan 7;8:1. doi: 10.1186/s40462-019-0184-2. eCollection 2020.
A strong behavioural plasticity is commonly evidenced in the movements of marine megafauna species, and it might be related to an adaptation to local conditions of the habitat. One way to investigate such behavioural plasticity is to satellite track a large number of individuals from contrasting foraging grounds, but despite recent advances in satellite telemetry techniques, such studies are still very limited in sea turtles.
From 2010 to 2018, 49 juvenile green turtles were satellite tracked from five contrasting feeding grounds located in the South-West Indian Ocean in order to (1) assess the diel patterns in their movements, (2) investigate the inter-individual and inter-site variability, and (3) explore the drivers of their daily movements using both static (habitat type and bathymetry) and dynamic variables (daily and tidal cycles).
Despite similarities observed in four feeding grounds (a diel pattern with a decreased distance to shore and smaller home ranges at night), contrasted habitats (e.g. mangrove, reef flat, fore-reef, terrace) associated with different resources (coral, seagrass, algae) were used in each island.
Juvenile green turtles in the South-West Indian Ocean show different responses to contrasting environmental conditions - both natural (habitat type and tidal cycle) and anthropogenic (urbanised vs. uninhabited island) demonstrating the ability to adapt to modification of habitat.
海洋大型动物的行为通常具有很强的可塑性，这可能与对栖息地局部条件的适应有关。研究这种行为可塑性的一种方法是通过卫星追踪来自不同觅食地的大量个体，但尽管卫星遥测技术最近有所进步，但在海龟方面此类研究仍然非常有限。
2010年至2018年期间，对49只绿海龟幼龟进行了卫星追踪，这些海龟来自西南印度洋的五个不同觅食地，目的是：（1）评估它们的昼夜活动模式；（2）研究个体间和地点间的变异性；（3）利用静态变量（栖息地类型和水深）和动态变量（日周期和潮汐周期）探索其日常活动的驱动因素。
尽管在四个觅食地观察到了相似之处（昼夜模式为夜间离岸距离减小且活动范围变小），但每个岛屿都使用了与不同资源（珊瑚、海草、藻类）相关的不同栖息地（如红树林、礁坪、前礁、阶地）。
西南印度洋的绿海龟幼龟对不同的环境条件——包括自然条件（栖息地类型和潮汐周期）和人为条件（城市化岛屿与无人居住岛屿）——表现出不同的反应，这表明它们有能力适应栖息地的改变。
