Studies of feeding grounds are vital to understanding the ecology and conservation issues of sea turtles. The hypersaline, lake Bardawil, of North Sinai has recently been recognized as being a major feeding ground for sea turtles in the Mediterranean Sea. The objective of this research was to examine if the environmental variables (salinity, dissolved oxygen, and depth), distance to nearest Mediterranean inlet, and food availability (zooplankton and phytoplankton density) differed between areas according to species richness (green (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead (Caretta caretta) turtles, single species, no species) and between areas in which loggerhead and green turtles were observed and not observed. Our results highlight the importance of environmental factors determining the distribution of endangered sea turtles as areas with high sea turtle richness had lower salinity, higher dissolved oxygen, were deeper and located closer to the nearest Mediterranean inlet. Our results support the suggestion that since the creation of the man-made inlets from the Mediterranean Sea, the environmental conditions of the hypersaline lake Bardawil have become less severe and more suitable for sea turtles as a feeding ground. The conservation of this biologically valuable lake will require active management to protect it from the increasing anthropogenic threats that will encroach upon the lake in the next decade.

研究饲养场对于了解海龟的生态和保护问题至关重要。北西奈的高盐湖巴尔达维尔湖最近被公认为是地中海海龟的主要觅食地。这项研究的目的是检查环境变量（盐度，溶解氧和深度），到最近的地中海入口的距离以及食物的可获得性（浮游植物和浮游植物的密度）是否因物种丰富度（绿色（Chelonia mydas）而异）不同和（Caretta caretta），龟（单一物种，无物种）以及观察到和未观察到和绿海龟的区域之间。我们的研究结果突显了环境因素决定着濒危海龟分布的重要性，因为海龟丰富度较高的地区盐度较低，溶解氧较高，更深且靠近最近的地中海入口。我们的结果支持以下建议：自从地中海创建人造入口以来，高盐度的巴尔达维尔湖的环境条件已不再那么严峻，更适合作为海龟的觅食地。保护这个具有生物价值的湖泊将需要积极管理，以保护其免受日益严重的人为威胁的侵害，在今后十年中，该威胁将侵蚀该湖。