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Material Information
- Title:
- Assessing habitat utilization by the juvenile and sub-adult hawksbill sea turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) along the artificial marine habitat of the Cyril E. King runway
- Series Title:
- UVI Thesis
- Creator:
- Eanes, Scott
- Place of Publication:
- St. Thomas, V.I.
- Publisher:
- University of the Virgin Islands
- Publication Date:
- 2016
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 84 leaves : color illustrations ; 28 cm
Notes
- Abstract:
- "The marine habitat created by the extension of the Cyril E. King (CEK) runway on the island of St. Thomas, USVI is an artificial reef habitat that has become an important developmental area for critically endangered, juvenile and sub-adult hawksbill sea turtle. The marine runway habitat was divided into five sections (Section 1-NER-1, Section 2-NWR-2, Section 3-SWR-3, Section 4-SSR-4, and Section 5-SER-5). Benthic surveys examined two factors along the runway, composition of sessile benthic communities, and crevice size in an effort to link hawksbill turtle hourly usage of the habitat to either, or both factors. Five Vemco acoustic receivers were placed around the marine runway habitat to maximize acoustic coverage. Six hawksbill turtles were then captured and tagged acoustically with either a V13 or V16 acoustic (Vemco) tag, with two turtles being fitted with depth tags. Turtles were tracked for a maximum of 200 days to a minimum of 100 days. The calculated hourly habitat usage in examination with benthic composition and/or crevice size data shows a link between marine runway sections with the largest crevice size and the smallest turtles tagged in the study, with depth and benthic community composition results being inconclusive"
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