查看文章

Aim  Although satellite tracking has yielded much information regarding the migrations and habitat use of threatened marine species, relatively little has been published about the environmental niche for loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta in north‐west Atlantic waters.

Location  North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, USA.

Methods  We tracked 68 adult female turtles between 1998 and 2008, one of the largest sample sizes to date, for 372.2 ± 210.4 days (mean ± SD).

Results  We identified two strategies: (1) ‘seasonal’ migrations between summer and winter coastal areas (n = 47), although some turtles made oceanic excursions (n = 4) and (2) occupation of more southerly ‘year‐round’ ranges (n = 18). Seasonal turtles occupied summer home ranges of 645.1 km² (median, n = 42; using α‐hulls) predominantly north of 35 ° latitude and winter home ranges of 339.0 km² (n = 24) in a …