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Ecology of juvenile hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) at Buck Island Reef National Monument, US Virgin Islands

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Abstract

Surveys of juvenile hawksbills around Buck Island Reef National Monument, US Virgin Islands from 1994 to 1999 revealed distributional patterns and resulted in a total of 75 individual hawksbill captures from all years; turtles ranged from 23.2 to 77.7 cm curved carapace length (CCL; mean 42.1 ± 12.3 cm SD). Juveniles concentrated where Zoanthid cover was highest. Length of time between recaptures, or presumed minimum site residency, ranged from 59 to 1,396 days (mean 620.8 ± 402.4 days SD). Growth rates for 23 juveniles ranged from 0.0 to 9.5 cm year−1 (mean 4.1 ± 2.4 cm year−1SD). Annual mean growth rates were non-monotonic, with the largest mean growth rate occurring in the 30–39 cm CCL size class. Gastric lavages indicated that Zoanthids were the primary food source for hawksbills. These results contribute to our understanding of juvenile hawksbill ecology and serve as a baseline for future studies or inventories of hawksbills in the Caribbean.

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Acknowledgments

Fieldwork was permitted by NPS under the DPNR territorial permit (years 1994–1999) and only within Federal waters. National Park accession numbers from 1998 to 2000: BUIS-00037 to BUIS-00058; catalog number BUIS 3415. Funding for this work was provided by the National Park Service, and the USGS Priority Ecosystem Science Program. Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Southeast Ecological Science Center, Davie, FL, USA

    Kristen M. Hart

  2. CNTS, Davie, USA

    Autumn R. Sartain

  3. National Park Service, Buck Island Reef National Monument, Christiansted, USVI, USA

    Zandy-Marie Hillis-Starr, Philippe A. Mayor, Ian Lundgren & Susanna Musick

  4. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Brendalee Phillips

  5. NOAA, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, Silver Springs, MD, USA

    Kimberly Roberson

  6. Division of Fish and Wildlife, DPNR, Government of U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USVI, USA

    Roy A. Pemberton Jr.

  7. Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, USA

    Jason B. Allen

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  1. Kristen M. Hart
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  2. Autumn R. Sartain
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  5. Philippe A. Mayor
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  7. Roy A. Pemberton Jr.
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  9. Ian Lundgren
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  10. Susanna Musick
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Correspondence to Kristen M. Hart.

Additional information

Communicated by R. Lewison.

CNTS is contracted to U.S. Geological Survey, Southeast Ecological Science Center, Davie, FL, USA.

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Hart, K.M., Sartain, A.R., Hillis-Starr, ZM. et al. Ecology of juvenile hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) at Buck Island Reef National Monument, US Virgin Islands. Mar Biol 160, 2567–2580 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-013-2249-x

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