rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Ontogenetic shifts in diet and habitat by juvenile green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) along the middle and lower Texas coast
  name:
    name part: Howell, Lyndsey.
    role:
      role term: creator
  name:
    name part: Landry, Andre M.
    role:
      role term: thesis advisor.
  type of resource: text
  genre: bibliography
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: txu
    date issued: 2012
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: remote
    extent: 1 online resource.
  abstract: Effective population management of green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) necessitates understanding the temporal variation in foraging grounds used in ontogenetic stages, and the effect that the assimilated diet within those habitats has on nutritional gain, growth and eventual reproductive output. Texas coastal waters provide foraging grounds critical to meeting the nutritional needs of green turtles during early life history. To characterize temporal shifts in foraging strategy stomach contents combined with stable carbon (Δ13C) and nitrogen (Δ15N) isotopes of scute tissue were examined across size classes of stranded juvenile green turtles from the middle and lower Texas coast during 2007-2010. Findings from dietary analysis generally corroborated those from stable isotopes in scute samples. Results indicate green sea turtles exhibit multiple shifts in diet and habitat along the Texas coast. Although isotope values in the tissues of some <25 cm SCL turtles signified recent recruitment to jetty habitat, most in this size class exhibited depleted Δ13C and enriched Δ15N values indicative of oceanic life. Reinforcing oceanic occupancy from stable isotope results was forage material dominated by oceanic items such as Sargassum spp., Scyphozoa spp., and plastic debris. Diet analysis of 25-34.9 cm SCL turtles implied regional differences existed in macroalgae and seagrass consumption. Enriched Δ13C and Δ15N values in newest scute suggest most turtles inhabited the jetty environment, where macroalgae is the most available forage. A definitive shift by >35 cm SCL turtles to inshore seagrass habitat was revealed by a diet of seagrasses and tissue enriched in Δ13C and depleted in Δ15N. This is the first study to integrate stomach contents of several green turtle size classes with tissue analysis of stable isotopes. The combination of these techniques provided an assessment of the effectiveness of stable isotope analyses in documenting diet and habitat shifts. Stomach content e…
  note: "Major Subject: Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences"
  note: Electronic resource.
  note: Master of Science Texas A&M University 2012 http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2012-08-11797
  note: Includes bibliographical references.
  note: Text (Thesis)
  subject:
    topic: Major Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
  subject:
    topic: Stable Isotope Analysis
  subject:
    topic: Stomach Content Analysis
  subject:
    topic: Ontogenetic Shifts
  subject:
    topic: Foraging Ecology
  subject:
    topic: Sea Turtles
  identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2012-08-11797
  record info:
    record content source: TXA
    record creation date: 121127
    record change date: 20150922150922.0
    record identifier: in00002785790