The number of cold-stunning and stranding events among juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, one of the world’s most endangered species, is increasing at an “alarming” rate and has moved north from Long Island Sound to Cape Cod Bay, say researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, MassAudubon and the University of Rhode Island.
The number of cold-stunning and stranding events among juvenile Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, one of the world’s most endangered species, is increasing at an “alarming” rate and has moved north from Long Island Sound to Cape Cod Bay, say researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, MassAudubon and the University of Rhode Island. Their recent study looked into what variables are most important in predicting such events, to more effectively help the distressed reptiles.
First author of the new paper in the journal PLOS ONE this week is UMass Amherst conservation biologist Lucas Griffin, a Ph.D. candidate in marine science. As he and colleagues point out, climate change may present the broadest threat among many to sea turtle conservation, but not enough is understood about its potential effects on sea turtle cold-stunning events.
With long exposure to cold water, sea turtles can experience cold-stunning, a debilitating lethargy that often leads to death. All sea turtle species are susceptible, but juvenile Kemp’s ridley, loggerhead and green turtles are the most frequently cold-stunned species in the U.S. In northern waters, some young turtles fail to migrate south to the Gulf of Mexico before late autumn storms arrive and waters cool, the researchers point out.
Read more at University of Massachusetts Amherst
Photo: Sea turtle rehabilitation tanks at the New England Aquarium. Photo courtesy of Connie Merigo.
