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Spatial distribution of turtle barnacles on the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas

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Ecological Research

Abstract

Distribution patterns of epibiotic barnacles on green sea turtles were investigated in waters neighboring Okinawa, Japan. A number of barnacle species were found to coexist on the turtles and were classified into three genera: Chelonibia, Platylepas and Stomatolepas. Attachment sites on the turtles varied among the barnacle species, suggesting that there is niche partitioning with respect to their microhabitat selection. Turtle bodies offer a “patchy” environment for barnacles, so we also analyzed coexistence patterns in the context of an aggregation model. Within each genus, individual barnacles showed a clumped distribution. The different genera do not have mutually exclusive distribution patterns, but instead occur on the same turtle to various degrees. However, when turtles were divided into two size classes, both the level of aggregation and the degree of interspecific overlap among the barnacles was significantly lower on large turtles. We suggest that obtaining basic information on turtle epibionts will shed light on the biology of wild turtles, which is still largely unknown.

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Fig. 1A–C
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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Kouichi Hirate of the fishery department of the prefectural office of Okinawa and Hidetoshi Ota of University of the Ryukyus for the advice on selecting the research site and for offering study equipments and materials. We also thank fishermen in Kanna fishery port in Okinawa and the Sea Turtle Association of Japan for help with field work. We also thank John Zardus of the Citadel, Military College of South Carolina, for discussions based on an earlier first draft, as well as Toshiyuki Yamaguchi of the Chiba University and William A. Newman of the Scripps Institution of Oceananography for helping us to identify these barnacles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Historical Geology and Paleontology, Chiba University, 1-33, Yayoi-cho, Inage, Chiba, 263-8522, Japan

    Ryota Hayashi

  2. Department of Environmental Sciences and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of the Ryukyus, 1, Senbaru, Nishihara-cho, Okinawa, 903-0213, Japan

    Kazuki Tsuji

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  1. Ryota Hayashi
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  2. Kazuki Tsuji
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Correspondence to Ryota Hayashi.

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Hayashi, R., Tsuji, K. Spatial distribution of turtle barnacles on the green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas . Ecol Res 23, 121–125 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0349-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-007-0349-0

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