| Literature DB >> 28378354 |
Karen A Bjorndal1, Alan B Bolten1, Milani Chaloupka2, Vincent S Saba3, Cláudio Bellini4, Maria A G Marcovaldi5, Armando J B Santos6, Luis Felipe Wurdig Bortolon6, Anne B Meylan7,8, Peter A Meylan8,9, Jennifer Gray10, Robert Hardy7, Beth Brost7, Michael Bresette11, Jonathan C Gorham11, Stephen Connett12, Barbara Van Sciver Crouchley12, Mike Dawson13, Deborah Hayes13, Carlos E Diez14, Robert P van Dam15, Sue Willis16, Mabel Nava16, Kristen M Hart17, Michael S Cherkiss17, Andrew G Crowder18, Clayton Pollock19, Zandy Hillis-Starr19, Fernando A Muñoz Tenería20, Roberto Herrera-Pavón21, Vanessa Labrada-Martagón22, Armando Lorences23, Ana Negrete-Philippe24, Margaret M Lamont25, Allen M Foley26, Rhonda Bailey7, Raymond R Carthy27, Russell Scarpino28, Erin McMichael28, Jane A Provancha29, Annabelle Brooks30, Adriana Jardim5, Milagros López-Mendilaharsu5, Daniel González-Paredes31, Andrés Estrades31, Alejandro Fallabrino31, Gustavo Martínez-Souza31, Gabriela M Vélez-Rubio31, Ralf H Boulon32, Jaime A Collazo33, Robert Wershoven34, Vicente Guzmán Hernández35, Thomas B Stringell36, Amdeep Sanghera37, Peter B Richardson37, Annette C Broderick36, Quinton Phillips38, Marta Calosso39, John A B Claydon38, Tasha L Metz40, Amanda L Gordon41, Andre M Landry40, Donna J Shaver42, Janice Blumenthal43, Lucy Collyer43, Brendan J Godley36, Andrew McGowan36, Matthew J Witt44, Cathi L Campbell1, Cynthia J Lagueux1, Thomas L Bethel45, Lory Kenyon46.
Abstract
Somatic growth is an integrated, individual-based response to environmental conditions, especially in ectotherms. Growth dynamics of large, mobile animals are particularly useful as bio-indicators of environmental change at regional scales. We assembled growth rate data from throughout the West Atlantic for green turtles, Chelonia mydas, which are long-lived, highly migratory, primarily herbivorous mega-consumers that may migrate over hundreds to thousands of kilometers. Our dataset, the largest ever compiled for sea turtles, has 9690 growth increments from 30 sites from Bermuda to Uruguay from 1973 to 2015. Using generalized additive mixed models, we evaluated covariates that could affect growth rates; body size, diet, and year have significant effects on growth. Growth increases in early years until 1999, then declines by 26% to 2015. The temporal (year) effect is of particular interest because two carnivorous species of sea turtles-hawksbills, Eretmochelys imbricata, and loggerheads, Caretta caretta-exhibited similar significant declines in growth rates starting in 1997 in the West Atlantic, based on previous studies. These synchronous declines in productivity among three sea turtle species across a trophic spectrum provide strong evidence that an ecological regime shift (ERS) in the Atlantic is driving growth dynamics. The ERS resulted from a synergy of the 1997/1998 El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-the strongest on record-combined with an unprecedented warming rate over the last two to three decades. Further support is provided by the strong correlations between annualized mean growth rates of green turtles and both sea surface temperatures (SST) in the West Atlantic for years of declining growth rates (r = -.94) and the Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI) for all years (r = .74). Granger-causality analysis also supports the latter finding. We discuss multiple stressors that could reinforce and prolong the effect of the ERS. This study demonstrates the importance of region-wide collaborations.Entities:
Keywords: zzm321990Caretta carettazzm321990; zzm321990Chelonia mydaszzm321990; zzm321990Eretmochelys imbricatazzm321990; ecological regime shifts; multivariate ENSO index; sea surface temperature; seagrass; somatic growth rates
Mesh：
Year: 2017 PMID： 28378354 DOI： 10.1111/gcb.13712
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Glob Chang Biol ISSN： 1354-1013 Impact factor: 10.863