Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
DOI 10.1007/s00227-012-2070-y
ORIGINAL PAPER
Received: 29 April 2012 / Accepted: 5 September 2012 / Published online: 21 September 2012
Springer-Verlag 2012
Introduction
Female sea turtles are large reptiles that typically produce
multiple clutches of 50150 eggs per clutch in a single
Communicated by R. Lewison.
D. T. Booth (&) R. Feeney Y. Shibata
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland,
Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
e-mail: d.booth@uq.edu.au
123
128
Experimental Design
Clutch 1 (C1)
C1
C1
C2
C2
C1
C2
C1
C2
Nest 1 North
123
Clutch 2 (C2)
Nest 2 South
129
123
130
123
Results
Live hatchlings were sampled from 19 of the 22 clutches
that were originally collected. However, only six of the
original eleven experimental units survived completely
intact and produced hatchlings from each of the two clutches in each of the two nests. Four of the units had one of
the nests destroyed by a subsequent nesting turtle, and one
of the clutches collected was infertile. All statistical analyses are confined to the hatchlings that emerged from the
12 clutches in the six intact experimental units.
Nest temperature
In the three nests that had two data loggers placed within
them, the temperature traces of each half on the nest were
usually within 0.1 C but always within 0.3 C of each
other, and the mean temperature throughout incubation was
not different between the two clutches demonstrating that a
single logger placed in the nest gives an adequate temperature record of both sides of the nest. It took approximately 4 days for nest temperature to reach surrounding
sand temperature when nests were first constructed as
indicated by a steep rise in nest temperature at the beginning of incubation (Fig. 2). One nest on north beach had
the sand covering it partly removed on 3 January 2009 but
was re-buried again on 12 January 2009 as indicated by a
drop in nest temperature and the appearance of daily cyclic
131
38
North beach
South beach
34
Hatchling attribute
Maternal
origin effect?
Nest
effect?
Interaction?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Nest temperature ( C)
36
32
30
28
26
P = 0.039
P = 0.046
P = 0.006
Yes
Yes
Yes
P = 0.048
P = 0.046
P \ 0.001
Yes
Yes
Yes
P = 0.036
P = 0.041
P = 0.001
Yes
24
Self-righting propensity
22
01/12/08
15/12/08
29/12/08
12/01/09
Yes
Yes
P = 0.039
P = 0.046
P = 0.002
Yes
Yes
Yes
P = 0.037
P = 0.029
P = 0.004
Yes
Yes
Yes
P = 0.043
P = 0.036
P = 0.044
26/01/09
Date
Fig. 2 Plots of nest temperature against time for green turtle nests on
Heron Island in the 20082009 nesting season. Solid lines are from
six nests located on the north beach. Dotted lines are from six nests
located on the south beach
fluctuations in nest temperature during the uncovered period (Fig. 2). Another nest on north beach was partly
uncovered on 12 January 2009 and remained partly
uncovered until hatchlings emerged on 1 February 2009 as
indicated by a drop in nest temperature and the appearance
of daily cyclic fluctuations in nest temperature (Fig. 2) and
the fact that this nest only had 15 cm of sand covering it
when it was excavated at the end of incubation. Nest
temperatures increased as incubation proceeded with the
biggest increases occurring during the last third of incubation (Fig. 2). Mean nest temperatures ranged between
28.1 and 31.1 C, and excluding the nest of north beach
that remained uncovered for the last half of incubation,
nests on the north beach were on average 0.7 C warmer
than nests on the south beach throughout incubation, but
this difference was not statistically significant (t10 = 0.488,
P = 0.636).
Hatchling morphology
GLM analysis indicated both maternal origin and nest
influenced hatchling mass and hatchling carapace size and
that there was a significant interaction between nest and
maternal origin (Table 1). Further, unit-by-unit analysis
indicated maternal origin influenced hatchling mass and
carapace size in four out of the six experimental units
(Table 2). These maternal origin effects persisted even
after egg mass was included as a covariate in ANCOVA.
Nest influenced hatchling mass in five of the six experimental units and influenced carapace size in four of the six
experimental units (Table 2). A significant interaction
between maternal origin and nest effects occurred in half of
the experimental units for both hatchling mass and
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132
consisted of two split clutches placed in two separate nests, one on the
north beach and one on the south beach of Heron Island
Hatchling carapace size (mm2)
Experimental
unit
Nest
effect?
Interaction?
Maternal
origin
effect?
Nest
effect?
Interaction?
Maternal
origin
effect?
Nest
effect?
Interaction?
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
P = 0.237
P = 0.869
P = 0.570
P = 0.025
P = 0.004
P = 0.925
P = 0.035
P = 0.007
P = 0.889
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
P = 0.031
P = 0.547
P = 0.468
P = 0.963
P \ 0.001
P \ 0.001
P = 0.959
P = 0.002
P \ 0.001
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
P \ 0.001
No
P = 0.972
No
P = 0.342
No
P \ 0.001
Yes
P = 0.897
Yes
P = 0.010
No
P \ 0.001
Yes
P = 0.001
No
P = 0.241
Yes
P = 0.275
P = 0.743
P = 0.578
P \ 0.001
P \ 0.001
P = 0.335
P \ 0.001
P = 0.299
P = 0.002
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
P = 0.592
P = 0.437
P = 0.299
P \ 0.001
P = 0.021
P = 0.002
P \ 0.001
P = 0.676
P = 0.008
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
P = 0.008
P = 0.786
P = 0.787
P = 0.647
P = 0.002
P = 0.870
P = 0.169
P \ 0.001
P = 0.868
5
6
Egg
mass
0.210
Significant?
Nest
temperature
Yes
-0.136
P \ 0.001
Carapace size
0.157
Yes
0.078
Self-righting
propensity
-0.100
Swim thrust
0.039
No
-0.111
0.109
-0.158
-0.103
No
Yes
P \ 0.001
-0.154
P = 0.607
Power stroke
rate
Yes
P = 0.006
P = 0.068
No
Yes
P = 0.042
P = 0.056
No
Yes
P \ 0.001
P = 0.009
Self-righting
time
Significant?
Yes
P = 0.041
-0.289
P = 0.171
Yes
P \ 0.001
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133
Self-righting time
Self-righting propensity
Nest effect?
Interaction?
Nest effect?
Interaction?
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
P = 0.634
P = 0.007
P = 0.254
P = 0.570
P = 0.466
P = 0.142
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
P = 0.184
P = 0.241
P = 0.041
P = 0.343
P = 0.001
P = 0.854
No
No
No
No
No
No
P = 0.304
P = 0.282
P = 0.672
P = 0.249
P = 0.199
P = 0.710
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
P = 0.667
P = 0.597
P = 0.049
P = 0.274
P = 0.837
P = 0.16
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
P \ 0.001
P = 0.146
P = 0.002
P = 0.064
P = 0.056
P = 0.098
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
P = 0.044
P \ 0.001
P = 0.506
P = 0.064
P = 0.003
P = 0.501
5
6
P = 0.059) during the first 30 min of swimming was correlated with self-righting time. Neither mean thrust production (rs = 0.102, N = 192, P = 0.058) nor stroke rate
during a power-stroking bout (rs = 0.043, N = 192,
P = 0.516) during the first 30 min of swimming was correlated with self-righting propensity.
55
A
50
45
40
35
Discussion
30
Hatchling morphology
165
160
155
150
145
140
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
Hours of swimming
Fig. 3 Thrust production (a) and stroke rate during a power-stroking
bout (b) of green turtle hatchlings swimming in sea water at 28 C.
Data points are mean SE for 30-min periods. N = 192
thrust production and power stroke rate during a powerstroking bout during the first 30 min of swimming were
small but significant (Table 3). Neither mean thrust production (r2 = 0.02, N = 192, P = 0.114) nor stroke rate
during a power-stroking bout (r2 = 0.02, N = 192,
123
134
Nest effect?
Interaction?
Clutch effect?
Interaction?
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
P = 0.024
P \ 0.001
P = 0.085
P = 0.497
P = 0.017
P = 0.711
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
P = 0.741
P = 0.127
P = 0.900
P = 0.220
P = 0.592
P = 0.010
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
P = 0.015
P = 0.470
P = 0.810
P \ 0.001
P = 0.587
P = 0.349
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
1
2
P \ 0.001
P = 0.094
P = 0.004
P = 0.413
P = 0.002
P = 0.226
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
P \ 0.001
P = 0.285
P = 0.096
P = 0.097
P = 0.655
P = 0.392
No
P = 0.946
Yes
P \ 0.001
No
P = 0.053
No
P = 0.406
Yes
P = 0.003
No
P = 0.476
123
135
123
136
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