Dietary Shifts by Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Ka¯ne‘ohe Bay Region of the Hawaiian Islands: A 28-Year Study.

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dc.contributor.author Russell, Dennis J. en_US
dc.contributor.author Balazs, George H. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2012-06-06T00:46:20Z
dc.date.available 2012-06-06T00:46:20Z
dc.date.issued 2009-04 en_US
dc.description v. ill. 23 cm. en_US
dc.description Quarterly en_US
dc.description.abstract The green turtle, Chelonia mydas, has modified its feeding behavior to include the increasing abundance of nonnative algae growing in the greater Ka¯ne‘ohe Bay area of O‘ahu in theHawaiian Islands. Changes in diet of the green turtle are correlated with an increase in abundance of seven species of nonnative algae between 1977 and 2005. Turtles were found to be eating 130 species of marine vegetation, and the three most common were the nonnative species Acanthophora spicifera, Hypnea musciformis, and Gracilaria salicornia. These three abundant and nutritious food sources are now an important part of the turtle diet in addition to native species found in and near Ka¯ne‘ohe Bay. Chelonia mydas behavior has shifted to include these new seaweeds within 10 years of their introduction to the region. The turtles have also gradually included an additional four less-prolific slow-growing nonnative algal species (Eucheuma denticulatum, Gracilaria tikvahiae, Kappaphycus striatum, and Kappaphycus alvarezii), but the time it has taken turtles to include these species has been longer, 20–30 years, after the seaweeds were introduced. During this same 28-year time period numbers of C. mydas have increased throughout the Hawaiian Islands. en_US
dc.format.extent 12 p. en_US
dc.identifier.citation Russell DJ, Balazs GH. Dietary Shifts by Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Ka¯ne‘ohe Bay Region of the Hawaiian Islands: A 28-Year Study. Pac Sci 63(2): 181-192. en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0030-8870 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10125/22754
dc.language.iso en-US en_US
dc.publisher Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press en_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries vol. 63, no. 2 en_US
dc.subject.lcsh Natural history--Periodicals. en_US
dc.subject.lcsh Science--Periodicals en_US
dc.subject.lcsh Natural history--Pacific Area--Periodicals. en_US
dc.title Dietary Shifts by Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Ka¯ne‘ohe Bay Region of the Hawaiian Islands: A 28-Year Study. en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.type.dcmi Text en_US
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Pacific Science, Volume 63, Number 2, 2009