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Stable isotope analyses of cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) sea turtles at the northern extent of their coastal range

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Abstract

Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) sea turtles strand on Cape Cod, USA (41.894757°N, − 70.289372°W) as water temperatures drop in November, but little is known about their pre-stranding ecology. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values of soft tissues (liver and muscle) and scutes (anterior edge and interior) from cold-stunned individuals (n = 26) sampled from 2006 to 2008 were used to assess general patterns of local and early life-history habitat use. After adjusting for trophic discrimination, anterior scute carbon and nitrogen isotope values (n = 11) representative of recent feeding were lower and higher, respectively, than potential offshore prey but similar to many local neritic prey and sea turtle-derived isoscapes for New England waters. These results combined with a significant increase in δ15N values for scute edge relative to scute interior samples representative of early life history suggest local foraging prior to stranding. Interior scute δ13C and δ15N values mirrored Gulf of Mexico isoscapes, consistent with early life-history foraging near nesting habitat. Liver (rapid) and muscle (slow turnover) isotope offsets differed among individuals (n = 15), suggesting that the cold-stunned population does not have a homogenous migratory and/or trophic history. Liver tissue showed evidence of starvation-induced δ15N alteration, which could bias interpretation of isotope data from rapid turnover tissues. Further stable isotope analyses including complementary tracers and techniques will improve our knowledge of this poorly understood assemblage at the northern extent of the species’ coastal range. Such data will aid managers in preserving foraging habitat and prey resources in New England waters that may become increasingly important if Kemp’s ridley distribution shifts polewards with climate change.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Andrew Ouimette and the staff of the University of New Hampshire Stable Isotope Laboratory for performing elemental composition and stable isotope analyses. Keith Matassa provided assets, both financial and material, for the completion of this project. Heather Haas, Samir Patel, Lindsey Peavey Reeves, and one anonymous reviewer provided insightful edits to previous versions of this manuscript. David Taylor, Maureen Conte, Emily DeFelippis, Ruth Carmichael, Eric Morgan, and Rainer Lohmann generously provided raw stable isotope and elemental composition data to allow for comparison with our dataset. We thank Robert Prescott and all of the staff and volunteers of Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary who tirelessly walk the cold beaches of Cape Cod searching for live and dead cold-stunned sea turtles. Finally, we want to recognize the numerous staff and volunteers of the New England Aquarium who care for the stranded turtles, as well as those of the secondary care facilities who continue the rehabilitation prior to release.

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  1. University of New England, Biddeford, ME, 04005, USA

    Sarah B. Bean

  2. Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, New Bedford, MA, 02744, USA

    John M. Logan

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227_2019_3516_MOESM1_ESM.tiff

Figure S1. Serial sampling information for a single Kemps ridley based on eleven sub-samples collected from the anterior to posterior and inner to outer sections of the third costal scute. Sub-sample locations are depicted in A) and also at the isotope value locations overlaid on heat maps for B) carbon and C) nitrogen stable isotope values for different scute sampling locations from a single Kemp’s ridley. The boxes in B) and C) represent the margins of the scute, while color interpolation is constrained to the scute region that we sub-sampled (TIFF 3424 kb)

227_2019_3516_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Figure S2. Image of third costal scute showing sampling locations for recent feeding history collected from the anterior edge (A) and early life-history feeding from the posterior (P) section. The scute in this figure was also serially sampled in relation to the posterior sample both towards the outer edge and from the far posterior to anterior edge margins. Shell image provided by H. Haas (PDF 251 kb)

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Bean, S.B., Logan, J.M. Stable isotope analyses of cold-stunned Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) sea turtles at the northern extent of their coastal range. Mar Biol 166, 64 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-019-3516-2

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