ORIGIN OF LEATHERBACKS (Dermochelys coriacea) FOUND

AT FEEDING GROUNDS OFF THE URUGUAYAN COAST

Vélez-Rubio G.M. 1,2; López-Mendilaharsu M.1,3; Caraccio M.N. 1;
Fallabrino A. 1; Prosdocimi L.4; La Casella E. 5 & Dutton P.H. 5
1.- Karumbé, Av. Rivera 3245, C.P.11600 Montevideo, Uruguay; 2.- Marine Zoology Unit, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia,
Aptdo. 22085, 46071 Valencia, Spain; 3- Fundação Pró-Tamar, Rua Rubens Guelli, 134 sala 307, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; 4- Ministerio de Agroindustria, Subsecretaría de Pesca de
la Nación Argentina; 5.- NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 8901 La Jolla Shores Dr, La Jolla, CA 92037 USA

Introduction

•The leatherback turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, is known to undertake long migrations between
tropical nesting beaches and distant temperate foraging areas.
•The NGO Karumbé has investigated the biology and habitat use of this species in waters off
Uruguay for the past 17 years.
•Satellite telemetry studies have demonstrated that coastal waters off South America provide
important feeding grounds for leatherbacks in the Southwest Atlantic (SWA) (1).
•Some hotspots have been identified off Rio de la Plata estuary, although there is no nesting
documented south of Brazil.

The aim of the present work is to infer the origin of leatherback turtles
feeding in Uruguay, improving our understanding of population structure
and migration patterns of Atlantic leatherback turtles.

Materials and methods

Study area
•The Uruguayan coast is part of a complex hydrological system (2) that comprises the
frontal zone of the Río de la Plata (RP) estuary and the Atlantic Ocean with a strong
horizontal salinity and temperature gradient (3, 4), affected by seasonal and episodic
variations in the outflow of the estuary (2). Figure 1- Map showing locations of the main nesting populations throughout the Atlantic (east and west) and the
•The cold Falkland/ Malvinas current influences this zone in the austral winter and the feeding grounds in our study in the western Atlantic. Uruguay (UR, symbolized by stars). Nesting colonies, considered
possible sources of turtles feeding at UR (indicated by triangles) are as follows: ES (Espirito Santo, Brazil), SU
warm Brazilian current during the austral summer. This results in SST variations greater (Suriname), TR (Trinidad), FL (Florida), SC (St. Croix), CR (Costa Rica), AO (West Africa) and SA (South Africa). The yellow
than 15 °C (range 10–27 °C) throughout the year (5). point indicate other feeding ground: Rio Grande Rise (ERG) Arrows represent oceanic currents: Gulf Stream (GSC),
Antilles (AC), Florida (FC), North Equatorial Current (NEC), South Equatorial Current (SEC), South Equatorial Counter
Current (SECC), Guiana Current (GC), Brazil Current (BrC), Malvinas Current (MC), South Atlantic Current (SAC) and
Benguela Current (BeC).
Sample collection
•We analyzed a total of 30 samples (11 females, 4 males and 15 indeterminate) Results
Stock Mean CI • We identified 6 haplotypes, the most
collected from large juveniles and adult size leatherbacks (mean CCL =137.4 cm; range: Brazil 0.024 0.0-0.199
118.0 – 154.0 cm) incidentally captured in artisanal fisheries (20%) or encountered ACR 0.030 0.0-0.272 common being Dc1.1 (n=19), followed by
GUI 0.017 0.0-0.162 Dc1.3 (n=5), a new Dc1 variant Dc1.7 (n=1),
stranded (80%). St. Croix 0.063 0.0-0.578
•Samples of muscle and skin were collected in 90% Ethanol and stored at -4 °C Trinidad 0.054 0.0-0.493
Dc3.1 (n=2), Dc13.1 (n=2), and Dc9.1 (n=1).
Florida (US) 0.060 0.0-0.539 The genetic (haplotype) diversity was 0.579
Ghana 0.066 0.0-0.606
Molecular techniques +/- 0.0950.
Gabon 0.629 0.0-0.988
•We used standard laboratory techniques to extract genomic DNA using sodium South Africa 0.058 0.0-0.500 • Results of the MSA estimates show that the
chloride methodologies (modified from Miller et al. 1988). A 763 bp fragment of the Table 1: Mixed stock analysis (MSA) of Uruguay majority (75%) of leatherbacks foraging off
leatherback turtle control region haplotypes. The Uruguay come from the African rookeries,
mtDNA control was amplified using PCR with primers LCM15382 and H950g (6). potential nesting source populations include: Brazil,
•The samples were then purified and sequenced on a 3730 automated genetic analyzer Atlantic Costa Rica (ACR), French Guiana and mainly Gabon in West Africa with minimal
Suriname (GUI), St. Croix, Trinidad, Florida, Ghana,
(Applied Biosystems). Gabon and South Africa. The mean and upper and
contribution coming from other Atlantic
lower 95% credible intervals (CI) are shown. rookeries (Table 1).
Data Analysis
Discussion
•Sequences were edited and aligned using the program Geneious (Biomatters).
• Our results provide more evidence of the connection between West African rookeries
Mitochondrial haplotypes were assigned by comparing the Uruguayan feeding ground
and foraging grounds in the SWA, which is consistent with previous genetic findings
samples to a reference dataset representing published leatherback haplotypes in the
from nearby South American foraging areas (9, 10) and satellite-tracking studies (11).
Atlantic (7).
• The RP estuary (which is shared by Argentina-Uruguay) has been recognized as an
•The haplotype diversity (h) was estimated according to Nei and Kumar (2000) using the
important foraging hotspot for leatherbacks in the SWA.
Arlequín program (8).
• Thus, these genetic results reinforce our understanding of the connectivity between
•A mixed stock analysis (MSA) was conducted through a Bayesian approach using BAYES
these breeding and foraging areas on opposite sides of the South Atlantic ocean.
(12) and nine key potential nesting source populations in the Atlantic as described in
• This effort to determine regional stock boundaries and migratory routes is necessary to
Dutton et al. 2013.
develop and implement effective conservation measures to mitigate threats both on
the nesting beaches and at developmental and foraging grounds.

References: 7) Dutton PH, et al. (2013) Conserv Genet 14(3), 625-636 Acknowledgements
1) López-Mendilaharsu M, et al. (2009J Exp Mar Biol Ecol 378: 31–39 8) Schneider S, et al. (2000).. Genetics and Biometry Laboratory, University of Geneva, Switzerland. Sampling and data collection were possible thanks
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3) Campos EJD, et al. (2008) Cont Shelf Res 28:1551–1555 four years. In: Tucker T, et al. (eds) Proceedings of the Thirty-third Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation. NOAA Tech. formed part of the NGO. Authors are really grateful
4) Horta S, Defeo O (2012) Fish Res 125–126:121–128 Memo. NMFS-SEFSC-645, p 246 to all the persons and institutions that collaborated
5) Acha EM, et al. (2004 J Mar Syst 44:83–105 10) Prosdocimi L, et al. (2014) JEMBE 458:13-19. in the stranding network. Funding was provided by
6) Abreu-Grobois FA, et al. (2006) New mtDNA dloop primers which work for a variety of marine turtle 11) Fossette S, et al. (2010). PLoS ONE 5 (11), e13908. Conservation Leadership Programme
species may increase the resolution capacity of mixed stock analyses. Poster presented at the 26th 12) Pella JJ, Masuda M (2001) Fish. Bull. 9: 151-167. This research was conducted under license (No.
Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation, Crete, Greece, 2-8 April 2006. Miller SA, Dykes DD, Polesky HF (1988) Nucleic Acids Res 16:1215 200/ 04, 073/08 and 323/11) from the Fauna
Nei M & Kumar S (2000) Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics. Oxford University Press, New York. Department – Ministry of Cattle, Agriculture and
Fishing of Uruguay.