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.authorRussell, Dennis J.
dc.contributor.authorBalazs, George H.
dc.date.accessioned2012-06-06T00:46:20Z
dc.date.available2012-06-06T00:46:20Z
dc.date.issued2009-04
dc.descriptionv. ill. 23 cm.
dc.descriptionQuarterly
dc.description.abstractThe 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.
dc.format.extent12 p.
dc.identifier.citationRussell 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.
dc.identifier.issn0030-8870
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10125/22754
dc.language.isoen-US
dc.publisherHonolulu, University of Hawaii Press
dc.relation.ispartofseriesvol. 63, no. 2
dc.subject.lcshNatural history--Periodicals.
dc.subject.lcshScience--Periodicals
dc.subject.lcshNatural history--Pacific Area--Periodicals.
dc.titleDietary Shifts by Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the Ka¯ne‘ohe Bay Region of the Hawaiian Islands: A 28-Year Study.
dc.typeArticle
dc.type.dcmiText

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Pacific Science, Volume 63, Number 2, 2009