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Spatio-temporal distribution and migration of adult male loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean Sea: further evidence of the importance of neritic habitats off North Africa

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Abstract

Ten adult male loggerhead sea turtles, captured by trawlers or dip nets, were satellite-tracked from a neritic foraging ground in the Mediterranean in order to investigate adult spatio-temporal distribution and breeding migration. Five individuals migrated to potential breeding sites in Libya and one to Greece. The results complement previous studies and show that: (1) the Tunisian shelf may be more important for turtles from Libyan rookeries than previously thought; (2) male tracks corroborate a conservation hotspot previously identified for juveniles; (3) the north African coast represents a preferred migratory corridor, unless open sea routes are more direct; (4) adult males may exhibit high fidelity to relatively small areas, without evident seasonal differences; (5) adults home ranges were smaller and more neritic than juveniles frequenting the same area; (6) males may frequent multiple courtship areas; (7) the average remigration interval of males frequenting this region is longer than 1 year.

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Acknowledgments

We are greatly indebted to all the fishermen who collaborated to this study and to the volunteers who supported WWF Italy’s Sea Turtle Centre in Lampedusa. We also thank R. Argano and M. Oliverio for their continuous support. This study was partially funded by WWF Italy and by the Italian Ministry of Environment (MATTM). M. Arendt and other two anonymous reviewers provided comments that greatly improved a first version of the manuscript. Finally, we thank A. F. Rees for English revision.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Biotechnologies “Charles Darwin”, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Viale dell’Università 32, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Casale & Angelo Cinà

  2. WWF Italy, via Po 25c, 00198, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Casale & Massimiliano Rocco

  3. Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, WWF Italy, 92010, Lampedusa, Italy

    Daniela Freggi

  4. via Antonio Calderara 29, 00125, Rome, Italy

    Paolo Casale

Authors
  1. Paolo Casale
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  2. Daniela Freggi
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  3. Angelo Cinà
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  4. Massimiliano Rocco
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paolo Casale.

Additional information

Communicated by J. D. R. Houghton.

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Casale, P., Freggi, D., Cinà, A. et al. Spatio-temporal distribution and migration of adult male loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the Mediterranean Sea: further evidence of the importance of neritic habitats off North Africa. Mar Biol 160, 703–718 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-2125-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-012-2125-0

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