Grant: 24-041R
Project Title: Investigating clutch frequency and inter-nesting habitat for a globally important loggerhead rookery: Year 5
Project Manager: Sarah Hirsch and Dr. Justin Perrault
Organization: Loggerhead Marinelife Center (Non-Profit Organization)
Grant Amount: $35,910.00
Completion Date: 2025-08-04
Summary: Southeastern Florida is a critical breeding ground for loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta). While nest counts reveal that Palm Beach County hosts the highest density of loggerhead nesting in the state of Florida, little research has evaluated key life-history traits and habitat use of breeding loggerheads in this area. This is the fifth year of satellite tracking loggerheads nesting within the Southeastern Management Unit (MU). After tracking 50 females over the course of five nesting seasons, we aim to publish the first evaluation of clutch frequency estimates for this MU. Analyses will investigate whether a link between various foraging grounds has an impact on female size and clutch frequency, in addition to other supplementary projects on health, stable isotopes, and nest temperatures. Tracking data during the inter-nesting period will also be used to highlight hotspots of in-water use by females during nesting season. Elucidating in-water hotspots is imperative for developing effective conservation strategies aimed at loggerhead population recovery.
Results: Eight nesting loggerhead turtles were outfitted with Wildlife Computers SPLASH satellite transmitters in April 2024 after nesting on Juno and Jupiter Beaches. All transmitters were deployed on the first loggerhead females to show up on the nesting beaches to ensure that females were tagged on their first nest of the season. One of the turtles was previously satellite tagged in 2021 as a part of this project. The turtle's old, damaged satellite tag was removed and a new satellite tag was applied. Of the eight turtles, we were able to re-encounter all of them ranging from one to 13 encounters (nests and false crawls). Clutch frequency was 5.8 nests (range 4-8 nests). All eight turtles have departed for their foraging grounds (Mid-Atlantic Bight and the Bahamas). One turtle stopped transmitting after 68 days. She made it as far north at Charleston, SC before her transmissions ceased. Six of the other turtles stopped transmitting after 128-268 days. One of the eight turtles is still transmitting (331 days after deployment). Tracks for all turtles can be viewed online at https://my.wildlifecomputers.com/data/map/?id=66e9a572fe2729afb802ef07