The UCF Marine Turtle Research Group (MTRG) has monitored sea turtle nesting for over 40 years along the Brevard County, Florida coastline, yielding one of the world's longest sea turtle reproductive datasets. These data offer demographic insights crucial for assessing conservation success and population recovery. There is need for analyses to better understand long-term trends in hatchling emergence success and emergence phenology, and their implications for population growth, recovery, and hatchling dispersal in the densely nested Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge (ACNWR). Here I compare the long-term reproductive output trends of loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green (Chelonia mydas), and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtles from the same nesting beach over a turtle-generation time frame (20-40 years). With potential phenological shifts occurring due to climate change, hatchling emergence success and timing may be at risk due to changes in exposure to seasonal and temporal conditions over time. My two primary objectives are: 1) to assess changes over time in hatchling emergence success in all three species in relation to natural and human influences, and 2) to determine if there have been changes over time in hatchling emergence phenology across the three species. Investigating how various environmental factors influence hatchling emergence success and its phenology over time is crucial for evaluating their effects on population-level reproductive success. Sea turtles are long-lived species with long generation times, making long-term data sets vital for providing a needed baseline for assessing species trends and understanding changes in population structure over time.
Jeena Prasertlum
Advisor: Dr. Kate Mansfield
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