FAS Abstracts 2004 Meeting Page

Florida Committee on Rare & Endangered Species (RES): RES-7

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Modeling sea turtle clutch temperature and development based on air temperature and sand characteristics. M. MOTA and R. CARTHY.  Dept of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, U. Florida, Gainesville, FL  32611.  Marine turtles bury their eggs on sandy beaches to incubate and hatch.  The substrate in which these eggs are buried plays a major role in determining hatchling growth rates, developmental times, and sex.  Because abiotic factors, such as air temperature and sand characteristics, influence the properties of the substrate, a model was developed to explain how these abiotic factors influence sea turtle embryonic development.    The model illustrates the transfer of solar radiation from the beach surface through the sand profile and into heat stores at different depths.  It considers properties of the substrate, such as moisture, compaction and conductance, and models how their interactions create a resistor to heat flow.  The resistance component of the model explains heat flow and provides temperature at clutch depth.   Clutch temperature at different embryonic stages helps to predict developmental transformations as growth, temperature-dependent sex determination and physiological death.   A model of storage and transport of heat in sand can be used by biologists to predict potential detrimental impacts restoration activities such as beach nourishment projects, will have on a sea turtle nesting beach.