The effect of the El Niño Southern Oscillation on the reproductive frequency of eastern Pacific leatherback turtles

摘要: Summary 1. Pacific leatherback turtle Dermochelys coriacea populations have been declining precipitously. It has suggested that fishery-associated mortality is the leading factor causing decline; however, sensitivity of leatherbacks to climate variability relative their population ecology unknown. 2. We investigated effects interannual variability, as governed by El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO), on nesting ecology. used equatorial sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly data over various time scales derived from both moored buoys and remote satellites signals ENSO. then incorporated these into a remigration probability model for largest eastern at Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas (PNMB), Costa Rica. 3. Our results showed females PNMB exhibited strong ENSO, reflected in probabilities. Cool La Nina events corresponded with higher warm lower probability. 4. suggest productivity transitions foraging areas south-eastern response Nino/La result variable intervals thus annual egg production. This phenomenon may render more vulnerable anthropogenic than other populations. 5. Synthesis applications . Physical indices environmental variation can be estimate remigrating nest PNMB. type modelling approach extremely useful understanding climatic dynamics turtles. applied any monitored where site fidelity beach monitoring coverage remains high. help programmes forecast remigrant numbers based prior data, further quantify validating survival estimates.