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Article Dans Une Revue Endangered Species Research Année : 2008

An alternative technique for long term satellite tracking leatherback turtles

Résumé

Satellite transmitters fixed on harness have, until recently, been the commonly used attachment technique to follow oceanic movements of the soft-shelled leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). However, harnesses have recently been reported to have a potential welfare impact during long term deployments in this species. Here we present the first long-term (3-months) monitoring of two leatherback turtles tracked with satellite transmitters directly attached on the carapace and compare tracking data with three other turtles that were concurrently satellite-tracked with traditional harnesses. There were significantly more recorded locations of good quality for carapace-equipped turtles than for turtles equipped with harnesses, which suggests a better position of the satellite transmitter when directly fixed to the carapace. The mean locomotor travel rate (i.e. turtle's own motion taking potential current drift into account) for turtles equipped with harnesses was 16% slower (0.50 ± 0.01 m. s-1 and 0.59 ± 0.02 m. s -1 respectively) and dives were 12% shorter (23.2 ± 0.8 min and 26.3 ± 0.8 min respectively) but to a similar depth (87.0 ± 3.1 m and 80.7 ± 2.9 m respectively) than for carapace-equipped turtles. Despite our small sample sizes, these first results suggest a marked hydrodynamic impact of the harness on leatherback's swimming and diving capabilities and stress the need of further developments for improving long-term monitoring while reducing hydrodynamic constraints for this species.
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Dates et versions

hal-00160300 , version 1 (05-07-2007)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-00160300 , version 1

Citer

S. Fossette, H. Corbel, P. Gaspar, Y. Le Maho, J.-Y. Georges. An alternative technique for long term satellite tracking leatherback turtles. Endangered Species Research, 2008, 4, pp.33-41. ⟨hal-00160300⟩
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