Carapace lengths and widths of nesting loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) were measured at Pompano Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida to determine if plastron and/or track crawl widths were predictive of carapace size. Straight and curved carapace measurements were taken.
Plastron and track crawl width were measured at four points on each crawl: 1) emerging at the tide line; 2) mid-way to the nest; 3) mid-way returning to the surf; and 4) at the tide line returning to the surf. All four measurements were significantly different from each other (P < 0.005) along each crawl. Crawl width was the most variable factor in all comparisons.
Maximum straight carapace length correlated with emergent track crawl width at the tide mark (r = 0.8464, P < 0.001), indicating that track width was predictive of straight carapace length (+/- 3.95 cm standard error of estimate). Clutch size correlated with notch-to-tip straight carapace length (r = 0.6635, P < 0.0005) and with emergent track crawl width measured mid-way to the nest (r = 0.5735, P < 0.005). Carapace and crawl width measurements were predictive of clutch size (+/- 21 eggs and 23 eggs standard error of estimate, respectively).
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:nova.edu/oai:nsuworks.nova.edu:occ_stuetd-1101 |
| Date | 01 January 2002 |
| Creators | Miller, Dawn M. |
| Publisher | NSUWorks |
| Source Sets | Nova Southeastern University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Theses and Dissertations |
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