Dataset Information

Sea turtle (Reptilia, Testudines) diversity and occurrence in the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Six species of marine turtles occur in the Azores Archipelago. The loggerhead, Carettacaretta (Linnaeus, 1758), is by far the most common species and is being constantly monitored and tagged by a joint project between the University of the Azores and the University of Florida since 1989. With the implementation of the tuna fishery observers (for dolphin safe seals), an increment of sea turtle reports has been verified as expected. The leather back turtle, Dermochelyscoriacea (Vandelli, 1761) is the second most observed species in the Azores' EEZ, a fact probably also linked to the tuna fishery observation programme. All other species are occasional/vagrant albeit the green turtle, Cheloniamydas (Linnaeus, 1758) is more commonly seen than the others. Historically, sea turtles were occasionally taken for food in specific fishing villages and ports. Since 1986, sea turtles, as well as all marine mammals, are fully protected in the Azores although human-related activities (e.g. plastics, discarded fishing gear) do generate serious injuries and deaths.

New information

In this paper, we update sea turtle species' checklist for the Azores and give detailed geographic coordinates on their known occurrences.

SUBMITTER: Barcelos LMD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10848538 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Sea turtle (Reptilia, Testudines) diversity and occurrence in the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic).

Barcelos Luís M D LMD Vandeperre Frederic F Parra Hugo H Barreiros João Pedro JP

Biodiversity data journal 20230216

<h4>Background</h4>Six species of marine turtles occur in the Azores Archipelago. The loggerhead, <i>Carettacaretta</i> (Linnaeus, 1758), is by far the most common species and is being constantly monitored and tagged by a joint project between the University of the Azores and the University of Florida since 1989. With the implementation of the tuna fishery observers (for dolphin safe seals), an increment of sea turtle reports has been verified as expected. The leather back turtle, <i>Dermochelys ...[more]

PMID: 38327292

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundAs in most bryozoans, taxonomy and systematics of species in the genus Reteporella Busk, 1884 (family Phidoloporidae) has hitherto almost exclusively been based on morphological characters. From the central North Atlantic Azores Archipelago, nine Reteporella species have historically been reported, none of which have as yet been revised. Aiming to characterise the diversity and biogeographic distribution of Azorean Reteporella species, phylogenetic reconstructions were conducted on a dataset of 103 Azorean Reteporella specimens, based on the markers cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1, small and large ribosomal RNA subunits. Morphological identification was based on scanning electron microscopy and complemented the molecular inferences.ResultsOur results reveal two genetically distinct Azorean Reteporella clades, paraphyletic to eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean taxa. Moreover, an overall concordance between morphological and molecular species can be shown, and the actual bryozoan diversity in the Azores is greater than previously acknowledged as the dataset comprises three historically reported species and four putative new taxa, all of which are likely to be endemic. The inclusion of Mediterranean Reteporella specimens also revealed new species in the Adriatic and Ligurian Sea, whilst the inclusion of additional phidoloporid taxa hints at the non-monophyly of the genus Reteporella.ConclusionBeing the first detailed genetic study on the genus Reteporella, the high divergence levels inferred within the genus Reteporella and family Phidoloporidae calls for the need of further revision. Nevertheless, the overall concordance between morphospecies and COI data suggest the potential adequacy of a 3% cut-off to distinguish Reteporella species. The discovery of new species in the remote Azores Archipelago as well as in the well-studied Mediterranean Sea indicates a general underestimation of bryozoan diversity. This study constitutes yet another example of the importance of integrative taxonomical approaches on understudied taxa, contributing to cataloguing genetic and morphological diversity.

Dataset Information

Sea turtle (Reptilia, Testudines) diversity and occurrence in the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic).

Background

New information

Publications

Sea turtle (Reptilia, Testudines) diversity and occurrence in the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic).

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets