Does anybody know where to find good growth curves (length vs age/ time and weight vs age/ time) for loggerhead turtles? Most valuable are datasets over a longer timespan, for turtles of a known age, and preferably also length-weight combinations, so something zoos or research/rehabilitation stations would have.
I found some papers (ie Parker 1929) but most of the data are incomplete, or have just weight not length (in this instance), or have growth curves of length vs time, but the actual age of turtles is not known. I also found some growth curves for hatchlings, but they are reared only to age of 10 weeks (which is valuable but just is a minor part of their lifespan)
I tried contacting some zoos, and have been doing that for the last couple of months, but still no success. Any publication containing that data would be awesome, or if you know someone willing to share/collaborate on this type of data, I would appreciate their contact.
I found a research that can be useful for you. The first pages are in Portuguese, but as you scroll down, you'll find all in English. Maybe the references can be useful either. If you want some contacts, I know about two PhDs that may help you: Gustavo Martinez-Sousa and Ana Cristina Vigliar Bondiolli (you'll find them using Google search).
This is the link to the research: http://www.argo.furg.br/bdtd/tde_arquivos/2/TDE-2011-11-18T084006Z-335/Publico/Roberta%20Petitet.pdf
The Marine Life Center in Juno Beach, Florida has a sea turtle hospital and has extensive experience with captive turtles, maybe they can help you. You can reach them at [email protected]. Good luck, MTS.
This article could help:
Scott, R., Marsh, R. and Hays, G. C. (2012), Life in the really slow lane: loggerhead sea turtles mature late relative to other reptiles. Functional Ecology, 26: 227–235. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2011.01915.x
I hope that this helps
This one is older (1984) but could be more helpful:
Growth Curves for Captive Loggerhead Turtles, Caretta Caretta, in North Carolina, USA
Authors: Frazer, Nat B.; Schwartz, Frank J.
Source: Bulletin of Marine Science, Volume 34, Number 3, May 1984 , pp. 485-489(5)
Publisher: University of Miami - Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
We have reared loggerhead hatchlings for a couple of years and have measured and weighed them regularly. We also had a master student working on growth rates of older captive turtles but we don't know the exact age for these. Both studies have not been published yet, only presented as posters at the 4th Mediterranean Conference on Marine Turtles in Naples, Italy. Here is the link for the Book of Abstracts: http://medturtleconf.rac-spa.org/images/bookofabstract.pdf
You have to look for Cianciuli et al p 60, and Ciampa et al. p 118.
You can check out www.sealifebase.org. It's an online database on all non-fish marine organisms of the world. They also cater to growth data. Hope this helps.
NOAA National Marine Fisheries Laboratory in Panama City Florida, USA was running experiments with captive loggerheads a couple of years ago, try contacting them.
Thank you all so much! This is really helpful! I am re-reading some articles, and discovering new ones that you posted!
If anyone else is in search of some literature, I can share what I came across so far!
@ Priscilla - thank you for publication (quite a bit of text in english- very nice!) and contacts!
@ Victoria - thank you! btw old ones are usually the hidden jems. Lately I use JSTOR to put articles "on the shelf" and then screenshoot them and put pages into a word then PDF document. Would be easier if my institution had subscriptions to everything, but this works perfectly too ;)
@ Marke, Richard - thank you for the info, I will be contacting them and hopefuly they'll feel like sharing and collaborating. If you know anyone working there that has a soft spot for researchers from far away countries gathering data, let me know ;)
@ Fulvio - thank you! Posters seem very interesting! Unfortunatelly for me, it's just abstracts, so no pictures. Do you plan to publish that soon? Growth at different temperatures can also nicely be linked with other rates like assimilation and respiration, by the theoretical framework I am using. Would you be interested in something like that? I can ask my superviser what he thinks about it too. I will send you an e-mail when I talk to him!
@ Patricia - cool webpage, thanks! It also found some nice references there for stuff like reproduction (yeah, I am on a data reference hunt... )
If you come across something related, please post it here!
Hi Nina!
Write me at [email protected] and I will see if I can get you in contact with the staff of Marineland Antibes in France. They have been collecting data of their loggerhead hatchlings over a time span of several years.
Perhaps you might want to get in touch with Dr. Stephen Dunbar for LLU. He organizes regular trips to the Honduran shores for turtle studies. Here is a link:
http://www.lluglobal.com/site/c.msKRL6PNLrF/b.7976955/k.CDC/Honduras_ProTECTOR_Trip_Aug_2013.htm
He may be able to help you further.
Here is an additional web site that may be of interest:
http://www.turtleprotector.org/
Assuming the seaturtle growth is not linear you may be find this R package useful
FlexParamCurve: R package for flexible fitting of nonlinear parametric curves http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2012.00231.x/full
see also the podcast (helps to break the ice....)
http://www.methodsinecologyandevolution.org/view/0/podcasts.html
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