Grant: 23-046R
Project Title: Keep on tracking! Passive acoustic telemetry is a vital tool for detecting movement patterns and resource-use by east Florida’s immature sea turtles
Project Manager: Karen G Holloway-Adkins
Organization: East Coast Biologists, Inc. (Non-Profit Organization)
Grant Amount: $29,024.00
Completion Date:
Summary: This project will purchase 5 stationary acoustic receivers to upgrade (begin replacing) a portion of our existing receiver array that was initially purchased and installed in 2012 with STGP funds (12-047R). After a decade, the current receivers are slowly being phased out with newer equipment with features that allow users to collect environmental data critical to detection performance (i.e., ambient noise, temperature, unit positioning) as well as assisting researchers with locating missing units. We currently have no receivers to replace aging or damaged units or swap them out in the case that they fail. We will capture subadult loggerhead sea turtles and placing acoustic transmitter tags on six of these immature turtles. We will compare data from loggerheads we are currently tracking to determine movement patterns and potential fidelity in these subadult animals. Our preliminary data suggest a high degree of movement variability among individuals, but our current sample size is low.
Results: