IIMYC   23581
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES MARINAS Y COSTERAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
A jellyfish diet for the herbivorous green turtle Chelonia mydas in the temperate SW Atlantic
Autor/es:
VICTORIA GONZALEZ CARMAN; FLORENCIA BOTTO; ESTEBAN GAITAN; DIEGO ALBAREDA; CLAUDIO CAMPAGNA; HERMES MIANZAN
Revista:
MARINE BIOLOGY
Editorial:
SPRINGER
Referencias:
Lugar: Berlin; Año: 2014
ISSN:
0025-3162
Resumen:
Feeding ecology of juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) was studied from 2008 to 2011 at Samborombón Bay (35°30′?36°30′S, Argentina), combining data on digestive tract examination and stable isotope analysis through a Bayesian mixing model. We found that animal matter, in particular gelatinous plankton, was consumed in large proportions compared to herbivorous food items such as terrestrial plants and macroalgae. This diet is facilitatedby the high abundance of gelatinous plankton in the region, thus confirming the adaptive foraging behaviour of the juveniles according to prey abundance in the SWAtlantic. To our knowledge, this is the first study to employ this combination of techniques and to conclusively demonstrate that animal matter, in particular gelatinous plankton, is important in the diet of the neritic green sea turtles