Should I stay or should I go now? Seasonal space use of loggerhead sea turtle in the Adriatic sea 

Četrtek, 24. oktober 2024, ob 19.00 // Thursday, 24 October 2024  ZOOM 

The Adriatic Sea is one of the most important marine habitats for loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean. Oceanic areas of the southern Adriatic provide epipelagic developmental habitat, while the Northern Adriatic is the largest neritic foraging habitat of loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean. The thermal environment is a key factor in the biology of sea turtles, with thermal constraints becoming evident in winter at the lower limits of temperature valence. Winter distribution in the Adriatic Sea is poorly known with suggested southward movement patterns from the Bay of Trieste and the coasts of West Istria in the summer towards the Lošinj archipelago in winter.  We tracked 23 sea turtles to obtain data on their space use within the Adriatic Sea and delineate seasonal home ranges of sea turtles according to the temperature seasonality in the Adriatic Sea. The results provided a basis to evaluate the space use patterns of individual sea turtles in the Adriatic Sea combined with aggregated seasonal space use. Sea turtle space use intersected with existing and proposed Marine Protected Areas and overlapped with industrial fishers' efforts to provide recommendations for conservation.