Habitat use decisions by mature individuals may be subject to early experiences. In the early part of their lifecycle, loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) forage on planktonic prey in oceanic waters (>200 m depth). It is generally accepted that most adults move to neritic waters (<200 m depth) later and forage on benthic prey; however, some adults within some populations continue to forage on planktonic prey in oceanic waters. Although this foraging dichotomy is suggested to be maintained environmentally, it is necessary to prove the unequal fitness between the two types of foragers by accurately quantifying fitness. In this study, the survival rates during the period from aboveground emergence to first reproduction were calculated in three scenarios with varying annual survival rates and ages at first reproduction for both types of foragers, based on a hypothetical mechanism that leads to foraging dichotomy, and the results were incorporated into fitness comparisons. Except in the case of (1) high annual survival rates and the small differences in age at first reproduction and (2) young age at first reproduction, oceanic foragers generally had higher fitness than neritic foragers, providing support for the environmental maintenance of the foraging dichotomy. The higher fitness of oceanic foragers might also suggest that the foraging dichotomy is maintained by status-dependent selection in relation to growth conditions during early oceanic life.

成熟个体的栖息地使用决策可能会受早期经验的影响。在其生命周期的早期，part海龟（Caretta caretta）在海洋水域（> 200 m深度）中的浮游生物上觅食。一般认为，大多数成年后成年后搬到烈性水域（水深<200 m）并在底栖动物上觅食。但是，某些种群中的某些成年人继续在海洋水域中觅食浮游生物。尽管建议这种觅食二分法要在环境上进行维护，但是有必要通过准确地量化适合度来证明两种类型的觅食者之间的不平等适合度。在这项研究中，根据导致觅食二分法的假设机制，以及在两种情况下，两种情况下的三种觅食者从地上出现到首次繁殖的存活率和首次繁殖的年龄在三种情况下进行了计算。结果被纳入适应性比较。除了（1）年生存率高，初次繁殖时年龄差异小和（2）初次繁殖时年纪较小外，海洋觅食者的适应性通常比硬性觅食者高，这为觅食的环境维护提供了支持。二分法。海洋觅食者的较高适应度也可能表明觅食二分法是通过与早期海洋生命中生长条件相关的状态依赖性选择来维持的。