Dr. Matthew Ramirez Profile picture
Sep 14, 2021 8 tweets 7 min read Read on X
1/7 #SeaTurtleTalks

"Stranded turtle bones reveal divergent life-history characteristics for critically #endangered #hawksbill #seaturtles inhabiting US waters"

Sometimes🐢wash ashore (strand) dead. Let's talk about what their🦴can tell us about their past life. #TurtleTuesday
2/7
Global #hawksbill pops. declined >80% in the past 100yr. Study of immature🐢was recently identified as🌎priority. Hawksbills typically inhabit🌴coral reefs but juveniles also forage in subtropical US waters➡️Texas & Florida. Yet, little is known about their ecology in the US
3/7
To address this knowledge gap, we studied the growth layers, #stableisotopes & #traceelements in the🦴of 94 US-stranded turtles (1989–2012). This led to new data on:
1⃣ stage duration (oceanic vs. neritic)
2⃣ size-at-age relationships
3⃣ age-at-maturation
4⃣ growth rates
4/7

Key findings:

1⃣ 🦴isotope+element environmental markers = shift from oceanic to neritic life stages @ age 1–3 yr & mean sizes of 23–24 cm SCL, in line with estimates for #hawksbills globally

2⃣ Size-at-age relationships were generally similar to other🐢in the Caribbean…
5/7

3⃣ …yielding age-at-maturation estimates of 15–25 yr (based on min. nesting female SCLs of 69.5–78.8 cm)

4⃣ 🚨Growth rates were much lower for #hawksbills stranded in TX relative to those stranded FL, even after accounting for🐢size & age. Sex & year not key covariates…
6/7

4⃣ ...spatial growth variation may be due to differences in trophic ecology. d15N data for TX🐢are⬆️than would be expected due to only a baseline difference & bulk SIA data suggest distinct isotopic niches. More on this coming soon using #stableisotopes of amino acids #CSIA
7/7

We show the critical info that can be gleaned from integrated analyses of dead, stranded🐢🦴

Learn more in our #openaccess @ESR_IR paper, co-authored by L Avens, (me), LR Goshe, JM Clark, AB Meylan, W Teas, @Donna_J_Shaver, @mgodfreyST, & L Howell doi.org/10.3354/esr011…
I should also add, if you are interested in collecting and studying stranded turtle bones in your neck of the woods and need advice, questions answered, etc. reach out at any time. Always happy to answer Qs or start new collaborations!

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Dr. Matthew Ramirez

Dr. Matthew Ramirez Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(