EXPLORING THE ORIGIN OF LOGGERHEAD SEA TURTLES IN THE SOUTHWESTERN ATLANTIC OCEAN BY MITOCHONDRIAL DNA ANALYSIS

Mara Noel Eugenia Miller1, Martn Laporta1 and Alfredo Pereira3.

1,3, Caraccio 2, Naro-Maciel

Alejandro

3, Marquez

Andrs

1,4, Domingo

Philip

1- Karumb. Av. Giannattasio Km 30.500. CP 15008. Pinar. Canelones. Uruguay. noelcaraccio@gmail.com 2- Center for Biodiversity and Conservation. American Museum of Natural History. Central Park West at 79th Street. NY, NY, 10024. USA. 3- Laboratorio de Bioqumica de Organismos Acuticos. Direccin Nacional de Recursos Acuticos, MGAP. Constituyente 1497. CP 11200. Montevideo. Uruguay. 4- Departamento de Recursos Pelgicos. Direccin Nacional de Recursos Acuticos, MGAP. Constituyente 1497. CP 11200. Montevideo. Uruguay.
INTRODUCTION
The loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) life cycle consists of developmental stages which can be segregated spatially and temporally. Adult turtles make periodic reproductive migrations from feedings grounds to nesting beaches that may be separated by thousands of kilometers. When juvenile and adult turtles migrate and disperse, breeding stocks may mix at foraging habitats, thus making it difficult to asses how exploitation of turtles on feeding grounds will affect reproductive populations (Bolten et al. 1998; Engstrom et al. 2002). In Uruguayan waters of the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean, there are important foraging and migratory habitats for immature and mature loggerhead sea turtles. Juvenile loggerheads generally inhabit offshore waters, while mature turtles are more often present along the continental shelf. These turtles are taken as bycatch in the industrial fisheries that operate in the area. The pelagic longline fleet operates over the shelf break and oceanic waters. Meanwhile, the coastal bottom trawl fleet operates over the shelf, mainly in the Rio de la Plata estuary, at no more than 50m depth (Domingo et al. 2006). In this study, we carried out preliminary genetic analysis to characterize the haplotype composition, possible natal origins, and dispersal behavior of loggerhead turtles incidentally captured by these fisheries.

Loggerhead sea turtle caught in a longline fishery.

Longline fisherman cleaning a loggerhead sea turtle.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The loggerhead sea turtles caught in the coastal bottom trawl fishery all shared the single CC-A4 (D) haplotype (Figure 1). This haplotype is reported among rookeries only in Brazil, the nesting population closest to Uruguay. In contrast, the animals caught in longlines were more genetically diverse, and some individuals were traceable to distant rookeries. Three different haplotypes were revealed in the longline samples: haplotype CC-A2 (B), present among rookeries in the USA, Mexico and Greece; haplotype CC-A34, found only in the Pacific Ocean, and haplotype CC-A4 (Figure 1). These results suggest that larger turtles may forage closer to their birthplace in Brazil, while some smaller turtles from distant rookeries may disperse and utilize southern Atlantic waters during their developmental stages before returning to their natal rookeries. Correspondingly, the coastal bottom trawl fishery may primarily affect turtles that breed in Brazil, whereas populations as distant as Australia may be impacted by longline activities. Marine turtles are highly migratory and often cross national borders throughout their life cycles. Therefore activities in one jurisdiction can affect the status of the species in another. This study furthers our understanding of the distribution and migratory behavior of loggerhead turtles in the southern Atlantic, and confirms the importance of international cooperation in the management of these species. Further research is needed, and monitoring of Uruguayan fisheries will continue in order to provide the information necessary for devising appropriate conservation measures.

Trawl fishermen measuring loggerhead

Trawl fisherman releasing a turtle

BRAZIL

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Tissue samples from twenty loggerheads were provided by industrial fisheries. All of the individuals caught in the coastal bottom trawl fishery were relatively large, classified as adults or medium to large juveniles (n=10). The loggerhead turtles caught in longlines were smaller, mostly small and medium juveniles (n=10). Following DNA extraction, a 340 base pair segment of the mtDNA control region was amplified using the primers TCR5 and TCR6 (Norman et al. 1994). Sequencing was performed using automated protocols. Sequences were aligned with previously published loggerhead control region sequences (ACCSTR, Marine Turtle DNA sequences http://accstr.ufl.edu/ccmtdna.html).
URUGUAY

B haplotypes

A34 haplotype

ARGENTINA

A4 haplotypes

Southwestern Atlantic Ocean

Figure 1. Map showing the location of loggerhead sea turtles collected in commercial fisheries of the Southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Brown circles are trawl samples and green circles are longline samples.
Longline fisherman releasing a loggerhead sea turtle.

REFERENCES
Bolten A.B., Bjorndal K.A., Martins H.R., Dellinger T., Biscoito M.J., Encalada S.E. & Bowen B.W. 1998. Transatlantic developmental migrations of loggerhead sea turtles demonstrated by mtDNA sequence analysis. Ecological Applications 8:1-7. Domingo A., Bugoni L., Prosdocimi L., Miller P., Laporta M., Monteiro D.S., Estrades A. y Albareda D. 2006. El impacto generado por las pesquerias en las tortugas marinas en el Ocano Atlntico sud occidental. WWF Programa Marino para Latinoamrica y el Caribe, San Jos, Costa Rica.72 pag. Engstrom T.N., Meylan P.A. & Meylan A.B. 2002. Origin of juvenile loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) in a tropical developmental habitat in Caribbean Panama. Animal Conservation 5:125-133. Norman J.A., Moritz C. & Limpus C.J. 1994. Mitochondrial DNA control region polymorphisms: genetic markers for ecological studies of marines turtles. Molecular Ecology 3:363-373.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to PNOFA (Programa Nacional de Observadores a bordo de la Flota Atunera de Uruguay) and PROMACODA (Programa de Marcaje y Colecta de Datos a Bordo) for providing samples.