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Skull ontogenetic variation of the coastal developmental stage of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the western South Atlantic Ocean

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Abstract

The present study aims to describe the ontogenetic changes in the skull of the loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta by focusing on the stages of development in the western South Atlantic Ocean. Our hypothesis is based on the premise that changes in feeding habits will reflect changes in the shape and/or size of the skull. The existence of changes in skull of the loggerhead turtle were analyzed using traditional and geometric morphometrics on skulls collected from stranded individuals in the southern Brazilian coast. As a general result, a transformation pattern was observed: from younger specimens with smaller, elongated and flattened skulls towards a larger, rounded and more robust skull in older specimens. It is suggested that these skull changes are associated with the diet shift of the loggerhead turtle specimens, providing the skull with greater mechanical resistance and enabling a change in feeding strategy from soft organisms to hard-shelled preys. This result highlights the importance of southern Brazilian coast for the life cycle of the loggerhead turtle. In this region, the individuals undergo the process of ontogenetic diet shift, changing their skull shape to adapt to the newly occupied niche and ensuring the ecological success of the species.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all the members of the Group of Studies of Aquatic Mammals of Rio Grande do Sul (GEMARS) and the curator of the Museum of Natural Sciences (MUCIN) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) MSc. Maurício Tavares for the collection and maintenance of the specimens analyzed in this study. To MSc. Cariane Campos Trigo and MSc. Pedro Luz for all their help in the organization of the analyzed specimens.

Funding

The authors would like to thank the organizations supporting this project: to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES-PROSUC) for the provision of the master’s degree to EAL and the post-doctoral scholarship to LECS by the National Post Doctoral Program of CAPES (PNPD 20132737- CAPES/Brazil) and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), which provided productivity grants to LRO (CNPq 303813/2011-3, 308650/2014-0 and 310621/2017-8). This study was financed in part by the Coordenação e Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) -Finance Code 001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Ecologia de Mamíferos, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Av. Unisinos, 950, São Leopoldo, RS, Caixa Postal 93022-750, Brazil

    Eduardo Araujo Lunardon & Larissa Rosa de Oliveira

  2. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biologia, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS), Av. Unisinos, 950, São Leopoldo, RS, Caixa Postal 93022-000, Brazil

    Luiz Ernesto Costa-Schmidt

  3. Laboratório de Herpetologia, Programa de Pós-graduação em Biologia Animal, Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, Agronomia, Porto Alegre, RS, 91501-970, Brazil

    Ana Júlia Lenz & Márcio Borges-Martins

  4. Grupo de Estudos de Mamíferos Aquáticos do Rio Grande do Sul (GEMARS), Rua Bento Gonçalves, 165/1002, Torres, RS, 95560-000, Brazil

    Márcio Borges-Martins & Larissa Rosa de Oliveira

  5. Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação, Centro de Estudos do Mar, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Av. Beira-Mar s/n, Pontal do Paraná, PR, 83255-000, Brazil

    Ana Júlia Lenz

  6. Departamento de Ecologia, Zoologia e Genética, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Campus Capão do Leão Travessa André Dreyfus, s/n, Prédio 23, Pelotas, RS, CEP 96010-900, Brazil

    Luiz Ernesto Costa-Schmidt

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  1. Eduardo Araujo Lunardon
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  3. Ana Júlia Lenz
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  4. Márcio Borges-Martins
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  5. Larissa Rosa de Oliveira
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Correspondence to Larissa Rosa de Oliveira.

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Conflict of interest

All authors (Eduardo Araujo Lunardon; Luiz Ernesto Costa-Schmidt; Ana Júlia Lenz; Márcio Borges-Martins; Larissa Rosa De Oliveira) declare they had no conflicts of interest whatsoever.

Ethical approval

The study was based on voucher specimens deposited in scientific collections. All specimens in the scientific collections were found dead, stranded along the coast. No animal was intentionally caught or killed during the summarized research. Consequently, no submission to the institutional ethics committee on the use of animals is required in Brazil.

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Lunardon, E.A., Costa-Schmidt, L.E., Lenz, A.J. et al. Skull ontogenetic variation of the coastal developmental stage of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the western South Atlantic Ocean. Hydrobiologia 847, 1999–2019 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-020-04204-2

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