Grant: 24-003R
Project Title: Investigating the environmental factors influencing movement patterns of nesting leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea)
Project Manager: Annie Page
Organization: Florida Atlantic University (Research and Educational Institute)
Grant Amount: $26,079.00
Completion Date: 2025-07-30
Summary: The most-recently published biotelemetry study on leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) nesting on southeastern Florida beaches took place during 2000-2002. Since then, conditions at foraging areas may have occurred due to warming sea surface temperatures and food availability. Therefore, it is important to continue monitoring this population to determine how and why populations trends of southeastern Florida nesting leatherbacks differ from other NWA nesting stocks. Satellite tracking allows for the continuous monitoring of animals in near real time, regardless of location, and transmitters can be equipped with onboard sensors that collect environmental and behavioral data for each tagged individual. Few studies have examined leatherback fidelity to foraging habitats, and this behavior could be linked to specific regional conditions (i.e., prey availability, sea surface temperature, and ocean currents) which are suitable for leatherback foraging. The aim of this study is to examine the foraging site fidelity of the southeastern Florida nesting aggregation and evaluate the environmental conditions influencing foraging behavior. We will accomplish this goal by affixing satellite transmitters during 2024 on Juno Beach, Florida to identify and describe the environmental conditions along migration corridors and in critical inter-nesting and foraging habitats. In collaboration with Loggerhead Marinelife Center's long-term leatherback nesting database, we will deploy satellite transmitters on a combination of neophyte, remigrant, and previously satellite-tagged leatherbacks to monitor a variety of individuals from nesting beaches to foraging areas.
Results: This project, funded by the Sea Turtle License Plate Grant (STLPG), is part of a wider study on leatherback movement patterns conducted by a PhD candidate in Annie Page's Marine Wildlife and Veterinary Laboratory at FAU-Harbor Branch. Equipment purchased with STLPG funds included three Wildlife Computers Inc. SPLASH10-295i satellite transmitters. These transmitters collect locational data from Argos satellites and are equipped with external temperature and pressure sensors to collect sea surface temperature and depth data. In addition, STLPG funds were allocated to satellite data time through Woods Hole Group to ensure data was promptly available to our online project portal. The three satellite tags funded through the License Plate Grant were deployed in 2024 (N=1) and 2025 (N=2) and are active and transmitting daily. In total, all five satellite tags that were to be affixed on previously tagged nesting leatherbacks have been successfully deployed. The turtles satellite tagged in April 2025 and these individuals are currently nesting, thus have not left Florida waters. They exhibit a combined interesting range between Jacksonville and Ft.
Lauderdale. In addition, up to 13 acoustic transmitters are being deployed on nesting leatherbacks in 2025 to complement data derived from satellite transmitters.