Date

2015-12-31

Author

Cihan, Sinem

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Nest counting is considered one of the most reliable techniques used for assessing sea turtle populations. There is a standardized sea turtle monitoring technique for Turkey published by the Ministries of the Environment, Forestry and Urbanization and Forestry and Water Affairs. Besides providing data on numbers of adult females and changes in sea turtle population sizes, this technique also provides additional information such as number of eggs per nest, number of hatchlings taking into account underlying relationships of environmental variables and ecological parameters with the nesting ecology of sea turtles. To understand the population trends monitoring studies must continue to be conducted. The reliability of overnight patrol surveys in nest counting technique which should be carried out by large numbers of qualified researchers to obtain accurate nesting data could be challenged due to long and demanding working hours requiring very dedicated researchers, and the simultaneous observation of a large patrol area. Another difficulty encountered in this technique is the formal protocol need to be adapted according to the characteristics of each field, facilities of the project and budget. To overcome these difficulties, the present study details a trial of a new monitoring system for two species of sea turtles (Caretta caretta, Chelonia mydas). This system adopts the aid of technology through the use of automated infrared cameras and laser barriers during the 2013 nesting season at the METU-IMS Beach in Erdemli, Mersin, Turkey. Although the natural state of the beach at METU-IMS is well preserved, there is no official protection status with respect to the conservation of sea turtles in this area. One of the main aims of this research study is the introduction of the METU-IMS. Beach as a formally recognized sea turtle nesting site. Another major aim of this study was the trial and evaluation of new monitoring methodology in order to save time and human effort compared to the current standard monitoring systems. It is intended to establish a monitoring procedure which can be applied easily and consistently in the following seasons and which complies with official standards. To test the accuracy and efficiency of this automatized monitoring system, standard monitoring daily patrols were conducted to gather data to be compared with results of the new system using infrared (IR) motion sensitive cameras and laser beam systems. The latter detected 85.71% of nesting female emergence with 14.71% false alarms. Both systems share the common aims of locating the turtles in order to record and count all adult females arriving on the beach, classify them according to track morphology, locate nests and investigate clutch success. With the use of both systems we were able to collect intensive data on the following; nesting activities of adult females, spatial and temporal distributions of the nesting attempts and nests, nesting success, nest density, incubation duration, clutch size, hatching success and important nest parameters affecting embryonic development like depth, diameter, humidity and temperature over the duration of the 2013 nesting season. In order to achieve the overall objectives, inter-related sub-objectives were addressed namely: identifying the potential of IMS-METU beach as a sea turtle nesting site and understanding the relations of environmental variables and ecological parameters with the nesting ecology of sea turtles on IMS-METU Beach. To identify correlation of environmental parameters with nesting and hatching success, the beach was characterized due to profiles of sand composition, size, sort and vegetation. Stranding data were collected and genetic studies were conducted. In addition to monitoring studies, informative activities were held intensely. The results enabled us to understand the conditions for a successful incubation period and the importance of minimizing the anthropological threats. Continued research at METU-IMS beach may provide essential insights into the effects of climate change and coastal development on sea turtle ecology and conservation, provided that the terms of commitment towards long term studies and acquiring protection status for the breeding site are met. In conclusion, IR camera- laser barrier coupled system is found to be a promising tool for sea turtle nest monitoring substituting labor-intensive surveys. This system could be upgraded by image processing technologies via the visual fingerprinting and monitoring.

Subject Keywords

Infrared camera, laser barrier, Caretta caretta, Chelonia mydas, Mersin, METU-IMS, image processing

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/95105

Collections

Graduate School of Marine Sciences, Thesis