Species
Location - IMCRA Provincial Bioregion
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Where Turtles Feed - Rugose Reefs
One of the fundamental needs for a foraging sea turtle is, quite obviously, food. Plenty of nutritional food. Sea turtles eat a wide variety of foods across various habitats, across different species and across different stages of their lifecycle within a species. In this context I am specifically talking about things that sea turtles will eat on reefs above 20m. In New South Wales this is where you can see green and hawksbill turtles feeding and loggerheads less frequently at the greater depths. Without performing gastric lavage (a scientific method of stomach pumping to determine diet) I can't confirm what exactly they are eating at this point in time. What is more interesting is how long sea turtles are spending in these foraging areas and whether we have adequately identified and protected areas that are identified as suitable habitat. They are threatened species after all. One of the suitable habitat variables I'm looking at this week is reef rugosity. I'm expecting a pretty wide range on this variable for suitable foraging habitat for sea turtles. The tricky part if finding the boundaries, when is a reef not a reef?
Rugosity alone cannot make that determination, but it is a valuable indicator of diversity.Reef rugosity describes the structural complexity of a reef area and is a fundamental ecological property of reef communities. The plants and animals that sea turtles feed on need a structurally complex system to survive. No rugosity, no food, no turtles. To gauge just how rugose an area is there are a number of methods being used these days. The most recently developed rugosity measure is a novel digital method to parameterize the structural complexity (rugosity) of coral reefs using a robust, off-the-shelf recording submersible pressure gauge. Preliminary data suggest a positive relationship between digital reef rugosity and fish diversity across a number of different habitats on shallow water Balinese coral reefs, I predict a similarly positive relationship between foraging sea turtles and reef rugosity, as one of many influencing environmental factor. Proving this will increase the confidence levels of predicting foraging turtle populations in uncharted waters.
The effects of climate change are not felt evenly or equally around the globe. South East Australia is predicted to be a hot spot for climate change over the next 100 years and the impacts of small changes in climate variable can have wide-ranging impacts. The variable discussed today for example, rugosity, can be negatively affected. Increased storm activity at sea can produce damaging waves which erode and sometimes bury reef structures. Increased rain also causes higher levels of turbidity across inshore reefs decreasing suitability for plant growth. The slightest change in temperature may force organisms out of one area that has become too hot, but may drive them to other areas nearby which are more suitable. When we're talking about the southern extent of foraging sea turtles on earth will climate variables drive a wave of phase shifting that takes turtles with it? How far south can they go?
Rugosity alone cannot make that determination, but it is a valuable indicator of diversity.Reef rugosity describes the structural complexity of a reef area and is a fundamental ecological property of reef communities. The plants and animals that sea turtles feed on need a structurally complex system to survive. No rugosity, no food, no turtles. To gauge just how rugose an area is there are a number of methods being used these days. The most recently developed rugosity measure is a novel digital method to parameterize the structural complexity (rugosity) of coral reefs using a robust, off-the-shelf recording submersible pressure gauge. Preliminary data suggest a positive relationship between digital reef rugosity and fish diversity across a number of different habitats on shallow water Balinese coral reefs, I predict a similarly positive relationship between foraging sea turtles and reef rugosity, as one of many influencing environmental factor. Proving this will increase the confidence levels of predicting foraging turtle populations in uncharted waters.
The effects of climate change are not felt evenly or equally around the globe. South East Australia is predicted to be a hot spot for climate change over the next 100 years and the impacts of small changes in climate variable can have wide-ranging impacts. The variable discussed today for example, rugosity, can be negatively affected. Increased storm activity at sea can produce damaging waves which erode and sometimes bury reef structures. Increased rain also causes higher levels of turbidity across inshore reefs decreasing suitability for plant growth. The slightest change in temperature may force organisms out of one area that has become too hot, but may drive them to other areas nearby which are more suitable. When we're talking about the southern extent of foraging sea turtles on earth will climate variables drive a wave of phase shifting that takes turtles with it? How far south can they go?
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