An estimated 250,000 loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) sea turtles are taken each year as incidental catch by the pelagic long-line fishing industry. Various gear and bait modifications as well as time/area closures to fishing, enacted to reduce anthropogenic impacts on sea turtles, have been ineffective or incompatible with regional fishery interests. Chemosensory and auditory deterrents have yielded little benefit thus far in repelling sea turtles from long-lines. The fact that sea turtles are highly visual animals has precipitated studies of the efficacy of using shark shapes to repulse them from long-lines. Previous shark-shape studies yielded promising results, but their design lacked statistical rigor. The present study examined the response of 42 captive-reared loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) to a shark-shape model at the NOAA Sea Turtle Facility in Galveston, TX. To measure repulsive effect, time taken to consume squid bait beneath the shark model was compared to that for controls in which loggerheads were offered squid beneath a spherical object or a bare squid (i.e., no object control) in a captive setting. Additional responses compared among these three treatments were time spent near treatment, number of breaths taken, approaches to the treatment, and avoidance behaviors displayed (e.g., turning carapace toward treatment). Loggerheads exhibited anti-predator behavior toward the shark model, taking significantly more time to consume squid bait beneath the shark model than for the other two treatments. Turtles also spent significantly more time opposite the tank from the shark model, approached it less often, and exhibited more carapace turns to the model. Some avoidance of the spherical control object also was observed, but was not as pronounced as that displayed toward the shark model. While a repulsive effect of the shark model was resolved during the aforementioned trials, application of such models to reducing long-line fishery bycatch would require further research to identify a plausible application; numerous shapes attached to long-line hooks would be very cumbersome. However, it may be plausible to develop a “boy’s day kite” shark model that would unfurl and “fly” underwater, and could possibly be clipped to buoy float lines.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-85). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--College of William and Mary. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 115-122).

In 1882, the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation was created which was 500,000 acres, or twenty-two townships. Suddenly, in 1884, the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation was cut down to approximately 476,000 acres, or twenty townships without warning. The total land holdings of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa people in 1884 were ten million acres or approximately 1/10 of North Dakota. But by 1892, their total land holdings were down to thirty four thousand acres, or two townships. In 1882, a traditional tribal government whose hereditary leader had been head chief since 1863 conducts Turtle Mountain Chippewa affairs. However, in 1892, a native committee appointed by a federal Treaty Commission becomes the recognized government body of the Turtle Mountain ChippewaThe Turtle Mountain Chippewa are still today the most prominent of the Plains Chippewa tribes in America, having today's membership and affiliates numbering nearly eighty thousand people. As we shall see, the Turtle Mountain Chippewa were also affiliated with the ethnically European and Indian mixed Métis people, who constitute the largest indigenous group in Canada, and will suffer because of their conflicts between nationality and Canadian and American federal policy. Due to an influx of new evidence, and using quantitative and qualitatitive methodologies combined with analysis of primary and secondary sources, this (dissertation) will contribute to the public record and change previous interpretations concerning the creation of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in the 1880s, and final settlement treaty between the United States and the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Indians of North Dakota in 1892. Through letters, journals, manuscripts, as well as other miscellaneous works such as newspaper articles and literary books, a thesis framework will be constructed to put some never before revealed information in a proper historical context.Whether or not Little Shell III was the undisputed head chief of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa and that his being deposed by a faction within his own tribal government was wrong or illegal by the tribe or the federal government, is not an objective of this paper. Instead, this historical revision of the pivotal events of the 1880s and 90s will show that Little Shell III's tenure as a head chief among the Turtle Mountain Chippewa will depict a leader who operated within a chieftain's parameters to mediate disputes and competently represented his diverse tribal membership to outsiders. The failure or lack of success in achieving the goals for all of the people at the Turtle Mountains cannot be a condemnation of his abilities considering that success for Little Shell by the 1880s depended upon fair and equitable treatment by the American federal government. Much of the history during the time from 1882 - 1892 has been misinterpreted by historians until now, it is imperative to proceed carefully with the new information and lay a solid groundwork for further study. Nevertheless, this work will charge the U.S. government for fraud against a peaceful defenseless people, and destroying their traditional leadership structure as well.

Although sexual stereotypes paint males as being promiscuous and females as being choosy in order to increase their reproductive success, multiple mating by females is widespread and females of many taxa often produce progeny sired by multiple males – but why? In species in which there are no direct benefits associated with mating, females may adopt promiscuous mating strategies to increase their fitness through the acquisition of genetic benefits. Here, I examine the genetic mating system of map turtles, Graptemys geographica in Lake Opinicon. Based on the most conservative estimate, at least 71% of clutches in this population are sired by multiple males. There did not appear to be any relationship between female body size and frequency of multiple paternity. There was a marginally significant effect of multiple paternity on hatching success and survival of clutches, but there was no effect on hatchling morphology or locomotor performance.

East Pacific green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, play ecologically important roles in marine habitats which range from grazing (and thus regularly "mowing") algae and seagrass beds to cycling nutrients between the ocean and land. However, these important grazers have been hunted to ecological extinction in some places for their eggs, meat, and skin. The conservation initiative for the survival of sea turtles requires the protection of their primary habitats in conjunction with a decrease in their interaction with humans. One way these objectives can be met is through the creation of species distribution maps (SDMs). For this thesis, a SDM was created from a generalized additive model used to identify major feeding areas for East Pacific green turtles residing in the Galapagos Islands. The input for the model was green turtle sighting locations during a June 2010 marine life observation survey and remotely sensed values of four oceanographic parameters obtained from satellite sensors (Bathymetry, Sea Surface Temperature, Chlorophyll a, and Current Speed). Line transects of intertidal and subtidal shoreline regions of the islands of Isabela, San Cristobal, and Floreana were also completed, to describe similarities and differences in macroalgal abundance between the locations. A generalized additive model (GAM) explained 56% of the data's null deviance and had a true positive rate of 0.83. The corresponding species distribution map indicated that East Pacific green sea turtles prefer to forage in warm, low chlorophyll a, slow moving waters at depths mostly less than 250m throughout the archipelago. ANOVA analyses showed that macroalgal abundance was statistically different (p-value < 0.01) between the islands of San Cristobal and Isabela. The line transects analysis also documented that red algae was the most prominent phyla at the sites and that the macroalgal abundance did not vary much between months June 2010 and April/May 2011. With these results, potential foraging areas for East Pacific green turtles can be identified and protected. Future studies will be focused on the collection of macroalgae from coastal areas outlined in the SDM and the interactions between green turtles and their competitors and/or predators. This information can be used to validate the areas delineated by the model and to further the understanding of the spatial-temporal effects on macroalgal abundance.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Drexel University, 2008. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 77-88).

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-91). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2006. / Title from PDF title page screen. Advisor: Roy S. Stine; submitted to the Dept. of Geography. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-65)

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2005. / Includes bibliography.