Food selection and habitat use patterns of immature green turtles (Chelonia mydas) on Caribbean seagrass beds dominated by the alien species Halophila stipulacea
2022
Siegwalt, Flora | Jeantet, Lorène | Lelong, Pierre | Martin, Jordan | Girondot, Marc | Bustamante, Paco | Benhalilou, Abdelwahab | Murgale, Céline | Andreani, Lucas | Jacaria, François | Campistron, Guilhem | Lathière, Anthony | Barotin, Charlène | Buret-Rochas, Gaëlle | Barre, Philippe | Hielard, Gaëlle | Arqué, Alexandre | Régis, Sidney | Lecerf, Nicolas | Frouin, Cédric | Lefebvre, Fabien | Aubert, Nathalie | Arthus, Mosiah | Etienne, Denis | Allenou, Jean-Pierre | Delnatte, César | Lafolle, Rachelle | Thobor, Florence | Chevallier, Pascale | Chevallier, Tao | Lepori, Muriel | Assio, Cindy | Grand, Clément | Bonola, Marc | Tursi, Yannick | Varkala, Pierre-Walter | Meslier, Stéphane | Landreau, Anthony | Le Maho, Yvon | Habold, Caroline | Robin, Jean-Patrice | Chevallier, Damien | Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC) ; Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC) ; Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA))-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Ecologie, Société et Evolution (ex-Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution) (ESE) ; AgroParisTech-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | LIttoral ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs) ; Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) | Institut universitaire de France (IUF) ; Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche (M.E.N.E.S.R.) | La Rochelle Université (ULR) | Association POEMM (Association POEMM) | Unité de Recherche Pluridisciplinaire Prairies et Plantes Fourragères (P3F) ; Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | Office de l'Eau Martinique | ACWAA Association | Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques (BOREA) ; Université de Caen Normandie (UNICAEN) ; Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA) | Direction de l'environnement de l'aménagement et du Logement - Martinique (DEAL) | Unité Biodiversité et Environnement de la Martinique (BIODIVENV) ; Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER) | Biotope [Mèze] | Auteur indépendant | Association Naturaliste de Soutien Logistique À La Science (ANSLO-S) | This study was carried out within the framework of the Plan National d′Actions Tortues Marines de Martinique (PNATMM). The protocol of this study was approved by the Conseil National de la Protection de la Nature and the French Ministry for Ecology (permit numbers: 2013154-0037 and 201710-0005) and followed the recommendations of the Police Prefecture of Martinique.This work was supported by the Fonds Européen de Développement Régional (FEDER) European Union, and Direction de l′Environnement, de l′Aménagement et du Logement (DEAL) Martinique, France (Conventions 2012/DEAL/0010/4-4/31882 & 2014/DEAL/0008/4-4/32947 & 2017/164894), Office De l′Eau (ODE) Martinique, France (Conventions 014-03-2015 and 180126), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France (CNRS, Subvention Mission pour l′Interdisciplinarité), European Regional Development Fund, European Union and France, (Convention CNRS-EDF-juillet 2013) and Fondation de France, France (Subvention Fondation Ars Cuttoli Paul Appell). Support for the ANTIDOT project was appreciated (Pépinière Interdisciplinaire Guyane, Mission pour l′Interdisciplinarité, CNRS).The authors thank the DEAL, ODE, Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage (ONCFS), Office National de l′Eau et des Milieux Aquatiques (ONEMA), Service Mixte de Police de l′Environnement (SMPE), Office National des Forêts (ONF), Parc Naturel Régional (PNR) de la Martinique, Plongée-Passion, Communauté d′Agglomération de l′Espace Sud and Mairie des Anses d′Arlet. We are grateful to the volunteers and freedivers for their participation in field operations, to the Brevet de Technicien Supérieur (BTS) and Master 1 students (Zoé Sins, Selvi Inkaya, Lucas Matuszyk, Timothée Gérard and Louis Dutrieux) for the laboratory analyses and to Dr. Simon Benhamou, from the Centre d′Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (CEFE) Montpellier, for his wise advice and feedback on habitat selection analyses. We are grateful to Maud Brault-Favrou and Gaël Guillou from LIttoal ENvironnement et Sociétés (LIENSs) laboratory for preparing the samples and for running analyses of the nitrogen and carbon content. Thanks are due to the Contrat de Projet Etat‐Région (CPER) and the FEDER for funding the Flash EA 1112 elemental analyser of LIENSs laboratory. The Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) is acknowledged for its support to Dr. Paco Bustamante as a Senior Member. Finally, we thank the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.
International audience
Afficher plus [+] Moins [-]anglais. Marine herbivores face rapid changes in the coastal ecosystems where they forage. In the Caribbean, the recent and fast expansion of the invasive phanerogam species Halophila stipulacea is threatening native seagrass ecosystems. So far, H. stipulacea is escaping most Caribbean herbivores, certainly because of its recent introduction or lower nutritional value. We investigated the impact of H. stipulacea invasion on fine-scale foraging habitat selection and food resource selection of immature green turtles at critical foraging sites in Les Anses d′Arlet, Martinique. The analysis of seagrass distribution and nutritional content, together with turtle behaviour and resource selection, showed that H. stipulacea may be of contrasting interest to green turtles. Compositional analysis confirmed the lower nutritional value of H. stipulacea compared to the native species, but the invasive species showed higher digestibility than native ones, which calls into question the energetic advantage of consuming the native plants over the exotic plant. Thus, although green turtles mostly selected the native seagrass Thalassia testudinum in multispecies seagrass beds, some individuals fed on H. stipulacea. Accordingly, in bays entirely invaded by H. stipulacea, one possibility for resident green turtles is to increase foraging on this species, but, if so, the consequences on their growth and survival still remain to be determined. As the expansion of H. stipulacea may have been facilitated by factors such as shipping, anchor scarring and fishing activities, protection of native seagrass beds and immature green turtles from human disturbances is urgently required to ensure the long-term adaptation of green turtles to this new foraging environment.
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