New publication: Variable hawksbill migratory behavior

I am happy to share that a chapter of my dissertation was just published in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems. The paper disseminates the results of a multi-year effort to track the post-nesting migrations of hawksbills from the Jumby Bay Hawksbill Project (Antigua, Eastern Caribbean). Interestingly, we observed a wide range of migratory strategies, from remaining within a stone’s throw of Antigua’s coast, to crossing the entire Caribbean basin. After migrating, turtles “hunker down” within a relatively small home range area and essentially stay in this fixed location until their next breeding migration. Our work, combined with historical tracking of a handful of individuals (published in 2022), gives us an idea of where our turtles forage, which is important for understanding patterns of survival and reproductive output that we ascertain at the nesting beach. The map included above illustrates the core results, with migratory tracks and destinations for all turtles tracked. This project was supported by a long list of people, foremost my coauthors Dr. Jeffrey Seminoff, Dr. Martha Burford Reiskind, and Dr. Seth Stapleton.