Gustavo Martinez-Souza

12
; Philip Miller
45
, Andrs Domingo
45
and Paul Kinas
3



1
PPG em Oceanografia Biolgica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil - souza_oceano@yahoo.com.br
2
Karumb - Base Cientfica Cerro Verde, La Coronilla, Rocha, Uruguay
3
Instituto de Matemtica, Estatstica e Fsica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande - FURG, Rio Grande, RS, Brazil.


4
CICMAR - Centro de Ivestigacin y Conservacin Marina, , El Pinar, Canelones, Uruguay
5
DINARA Direccin Nacional de Recursos Acuticos, Montevideo, Uruguay





Ingestion of marine debris and foraging strategies by
loggerhead sea turtles, Caretta caretta, in the neritic and
oceanic environment of South Atlantic

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A partnership between
Loggerheads can develop in
both zones, but the rigidity or
flexibility between foraging
strategies is discussed
OCEANIC ZONE NERITIC ZONE
Predation over gelatinous prey;
Benthic items can be observed but the depth
prevents the benthic foraging.
Can foraging in pelagic and benthic
environment, but ingestion of gelatinous
organisms can have a high degree of bias, as
the last preys often don't have rigid body
structures.
However, an item found in the
water column is indigestible and
can be observed throughout the
digestive tract:
MARINE
DEBRIS
X
Compare the occurrence of marine
debris in neritic and oceanic
loggerhead turtles of Uruguay and
assess the flexibility of foraging
strategies in both environments.
From loggerheads incidentally captured by the
Uruguayan pelagic longline fisheries fleet
We classified and counted the
marine debris found only in the
stomach contents
Represent the
ingestion in the
last 2 days
From specimens
stranded on the
Atlantic coast of
Rocha, Uruguay
We counted the marine
debris found in the gut
contents
Represent the
ingestion in the
last 24 days
To compare:
Yates's chi-squared test.
OBJECTIVES
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Groups Occurrence (%O) Number (%N) Weight (%M)
Soft Plastics 20 33.9% 36 46.1% 21.3 63.9%
Rigid Plastics 11 18.6% 23 29.5% 7.7 23.1%
Styrofoam 5 8.5% 7 9% 2.9 8.9%
Wood 2 3.4% 7 89 1.1 3.2%
Bird feathers 5 8.5% 5 6.4% 0.3 1%
- 4 (6.78%) of 59 specimens had
marine debris in entire digestive
tract (weight > 2 g in all cases)
- 30 (50.85%) of 59 specimens showed debris in the stomach
Comparing: The probability of found
marine debris in the oceanic loggerheads
is greater than in the neritic loggerheads (p
= 0.0003), even compared to different
sampling times
DISCUSSION
-Replacing for foraging in the
water column, the probability of
this strategy in the ocean zone is
higher than in the coastal zone;
- We assume that the
loggerhead turtle have different
foraging strategies, according to
the development environment;
CAUTION: The ingestion of
marine debris can be a real
threat to oceanic loggerheads,
with less probability to strand in
the beach.