Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna

Hays, Graeme C.; Laloë, Jacques-Olivier; Mortimer, Jeanne A.; Rattray, Alex; Tromp, Jared J.; Esteban, Nicole

doi:10.1126/sciadv.adl2838

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Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna

Graeme C. Hays

, Jacques-Olivier Laloë, Jeanne A. Mortimer

, Alex Rattray

, Jared J. Tromp

, Nicole Esteban

Science Advances, Volume: 10, Issue: 8

Swansea University Author: Nicole Esteban

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DOI (Published version): 10.1126/sciadv.adl2838

Abstract

The importance of some ecosystems remains poorly understood. We showed that mesophotic ecosystems (30 to 150 m) are a key habitat for a critically endangered species, with strong evidence that a globally important population of adult hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) almost exclusively fora...

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Published in:	Science Advances
ISSN:	2375-2548
Published:	American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2024
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa65761

first_indexed	2024-03-05T22:07:15Z
last_indexed	2024-11-25T14:16:47Z
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spelling	2024-04-25T17:35:29.6351157 v2 65761 2024-03-05 Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319 0000-0003-4693-7221 Nicole Esteban Nicole Esteban true false 2024-03-05 BGPS The importance of some ecosystems remains poorly understood. We showed that mesophotic ecosystems (30 to 150 m) are a key habitat for a critically endangered species, with strong evidence that a globally important population of adult hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) almost exclusively foraged at these depths on remote submerged banks. This discovery highlights the need for such areas to be included in conservation planning, for example, as part of the United Nations High Seas Treaty. We equipped nesting turtles with Fastloc-GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite tags at an Indian Ocean breeding area and they all traveled to deep foraging sites (6765 days of tracking data across 22 individuals including 183,921 dive-depth measurements) rather than shallow coral reef sites. Both chart depths and depth data relayed from the tags indicated that turtles foraged at mesophotic depths, the modal dive depths being between 35 and 40 m. We calculate that 55,554 km2 of the western Indian Ocean alone consists of submerged banks between 30 and 60 m. Journal Article Science Advances 10 8 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2375-2548 21 2 2024 2024-02-21 10.1126/sciadv.adl2838 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University External research funder(s) paid the OA fee (includes OA grants disbursed by the Library) Bertarelli Programme in Marine Science BPMS-2017-4 and 820633 2024-04-25T17:35:29.6351157 2024-03-05T22:05:15.0808231 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Graeme C. Hays 0000-0002-3314-8189 1 Jacques-Olivier Laloë 2 Jeanne A. Mortimer 0000-0001-6318-2890 3 Alex Rattray 0000-0002-8591-6688 4 Jared J. Tromp 0000-0002-0223-8368 5 Nicole Esteban 0000-0003-4693-7221 6 65761__29647__fd409c59e359495cb030adc3f50effe9.pdf sciadv.adl2838.pdf 2024-03-05T22:05:59.2946739 Output 306982 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2024 the Authors, some rights reserved; Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna
spellingShingle	Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna Nicole Esteban
title_short	Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna
title_full	Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna
title_fullStr	Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna
title_full_unstemmed	Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna
title_sort	Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna
author_id_str_mv	fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319
author_id_fullname_str_mv	fb2e760b83b4580e7445092982f1f319_***_Nicole Esteban
author	Nicole Esteban
author2	Graeme C. Hays Jacques-Olivier Laloë Jeanne A. Mortimer Alex Rattray Jared J. Tromp Nicole Esteban
format	Journal article
container_title	Science Advances
container_volume	10
container_issue	8
publishDate	2024
institution	Swansea University
issn	2375-2548
doi_str_mv	10.1126/sciadv.adl2838
publisher	American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
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department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description	The importance of some ecosystems remains poorly understood. We showed that mesophotic ecosystems (30 to 150 m) are a key habitat for a critically endangered species, with strong evidence that a globally important population of adult hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) almost exclusively foraged at these depths on remote submerged banks. This discovery highlights the need for such areas to be included in conservation planning, for example, as part of the United Nations High Seas Treaty. We equipped nesting turtles with Fastloc-GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite tags at an Indian Ocean breeding area and they all traveled to deep foraging sites (6765 days of tracking data across 22 individuals including 183,921 dive-depth measurements) rather than shallow coral reef sites. Both chart depths and depth data relayed from the tags indicated that turtles foraged at mesophotic depths, the modal dive depths being between 35 and 40 m. We calculate that 55,554 km2 of the western Indian Ocean alone consists of submerged banks between 30 and 60 m.
published_date	2024-02-21T14:37:53Z
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Remote submerged banks and mesophotic ecosystems can provide key habitat for endangered marine megafauna

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