|
Vol. 63, 2024
(update: 2024.7.2)
Mother- Hatchling Isotopic
Relationship in Green Turtle: Isotopic Niche-based Modelling
Şükran Yalçın Özdilek1 , Bektaş Sönmez2,*, and Burcu Mestav3
doi:-
1Çanakkale
Onsekiz Mart University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of
Biology, Çanakkale, Türkiye. E-mail: syalcinozdilek@gmail.com (Özdilek)
2Sivas
Cumhuriyet University, Suşehri Timur Karabal Vocational School, 58600,
Suşehri, Sivas, Türkiye. *Correspondence: E-mail: bektass@gmail.com
(Özdilek)
3Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University,
Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Statistics, Çanakkale,
Türkiye. E-mail: mestavburcu@gmail.com (Mestav)
(Received 27 December 2023 / Accepted 26 June 2024 / Published -- 2024)
Communicated by Chien-Hsiang Lin
The
isotopic discrimination between the mother and the hatchlings has been
modelled in various vertebrates, including sea turtles. In addition to
the linear relation between δ13C and δ15N isotope
values of the mother – hatchling couple, there is missing data on the
combined effects of both isotopes, which represent ecological niches of
a species. The stableδ 13C and δ15N isotope
signatures of live hatchlings and their mother’s epidermis tissues were
used in green turtles. The samples were taken from three main breeding
beaches, Akyatan, Sugözü and Samandağ in Türkiye during the 2020
nesting season. It was found that bothδ 15N and δ13C
values of hatchlings were not significantly different from those of
mothers. Significant relationships were found between hatchlings and
their mothers in terms ofδ 13C value. Furthermore, when the
hatchling isotopic niche size is known, the condition probability of
estimating the mother isotopic niche size were 85.16% and 92.88% with
the 0.95 and 0.99 alpha levels. In addition to showing a linear
relationship between hatchlings and their mother's single isotopic
composition, the current study offers a novel insight that proposes a
niche overlap concept using two isotopes to comprehend the
mother-hatchling relationship of green turtles living in the eastern
Mediterranean.
Key words: Chelonia mydas, Stable isotopes, Hatchling isotope, Feeding ecology, Mediterranean
Citation:
Özdilek SY, Sönmez B, Mestav B. 2024. Mother- Hatchling isotopic
relationship in green turtle: isotopic niche-based modelling. Zool Stud
63:31.
|
