title: Movements and diving behavior of internesting green turtles along Pacific Costa Rica.
abstract: Using satellite transmitters, we determined the internesting movements, spatial ecology and diving behavior of East Pacific green turtles (Chelonia mydas) nesting on Nombre de Jesús and Zapotillal beaches along the Pacific coast of northwestern Costa Rica. Kernel density analysis indicated that turtles spent most of their time in a particularly small area in the vicinity of the nesting beaches (50% utilization distribution was an area of 3 km(2) ). Minimum daily distance traveled during a 12 day internesting period was 4.6 ± 3.5 km. Dives were short and primarily occupied the upper 10 m of the water column. Turtles spent most of their time resting at the surface and conducting U-dives (ranging from 60 to 81% of the total tracking time involved in those activities). Turtles showed a strong diel pattern, U-dives mainly took place during the day and turtles spent a large amount of time resting at the surface at night. The lack of long-distance movements demonstrated that this area was heavily utilized by turtles during the nesting season and, therefore, was a crucial location for conservation of this highly endangered green turtle population. The unique behavior of these turtles in resting at the surface at night might make them particularly vulnerable to fishing activities near the nesting beaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Department of Natural Resources, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, California, USA Department of Biology, Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA Leatherback National Marine Park, Ministry of Environment, Energy and Telecommunications San Jose, Costa Rica.
authors.forename: Gabriela S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Blanco
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Morreale
authors.forename: Jeffrey A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Seminoff
authors.forename: Frank V
authors.initials: FV
authors.lastname: Paladino
authors.forename: Rotney
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Piedra
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Spotila
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods; D003364:Costa Rica; D004242:Diving / Q000502:physiology*; D056727:Endangered Species; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013686:Telemetry; D014426:Turtles / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Chelonia mydas; Costa Rica; East Pacific green turtle; internesting period; satellite telemetry