How to translate text using browser tools
1 May 2007 Nesting of the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) from 1999–2000 Through 2003–2004 at Playa Langosta, Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas de Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Rotney Piedra, Elizabeth Vélez, Peter Dutton, Earl Possardt, Clara Padilla
Author Affiliations +
Abstract

Playa Langosta is 1 of 3 nesting beaches in Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas de Guanacaste, and is 1.3-km long. The 3 beaches (Langosta, Grande, and Ventanas) represent over 6 km of leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) nesting. The use of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags allowed us to identify each leatherback that nested at Playa Langosta. A total of 252 individual leatherbacks nested between the 1999–2000 and 2003–2004 nesting seasons. Of these, 63% (n = 158) were new turtles (untagged before), and 50% (n = 79) of the new turtles were originally PIT tagged on Playa Langosta. The majority of these turtles (54%) nested only on Playa Langosta, whereas a slightly smaller percentage (46%) nested at both Playa Grande and Playa Langosta. We recorded 904 encounters and 792 nests at Playa Langosta for the 5 nesting seasons of this study. Leatherbacks nesting at Playa Langosta ranged in curved carapace length from 125 to 164 cm and in curved carapace width, from 90 to 116 cm. Average internesting period was 9.6 days. For the first 4 seasons, data from excavated nests showed a decrease in percentage of hatching success from 68.9% to 30.4% in natural nesting conditions. A dramatic decline in emergence success from 57.2% to 9.3% occurred for these respective seasons. For the last 3 seasons, the hatching success of leatherback turtles in relocated nests was 52.4%, 18.9%, and 51.4%.

Rotney Piedra, Elizabeth Vélez, Peter Dutton, Earl Possardt, and Clara Padilla "Nesting of the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) from 1999–2000 Through 2003–2004 at Playa Langosta, Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas de Guanacaste, Costa Rica," Chelonian Conservation and Biology 6(1), 111-116, (1 May 2007). https://doi.org/10.2744/1071-8443(2007)6[111:NOTLTD]2.0.CO;2
Received: 6 November 2006; Accepted: 1 January 2007; Published: 1 May 2007
KEYWORDS
conservation
Costa Rica
Dermochelyidae
Dermochelys coriacea
hatching success
marine turtle
nesting
RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS
Get copyright permission
Back to Top