Author(s): Ash Byrnes , Janelle Jensen , Tracy Diaz

Presentation: poster

Heron Island, Australia is a major nesting ground for several sea turtle species, including Chelonia mydas, the green sea turtles. Previous studies have found that beach vegetation is an important factor in turtle nesting success. Our study looked at the nesting success of the green turtle with varying canopy coverage on Heron Island in January 2010. We hypothesized that areas with greater canopy coverage would yield greater nesting successes. The Australia Department of Environment and Resource Management, DERM, is an organization which monitors the nesting behaviors of turtles. We measured canopy coverage and were able to obtain data from DERM researchers on turtle nesting success for the month of January. By taking GPS coordinates around the island we were able to create a digital map of the nesting areas. A Kruskal-Wallis One Way Analysis showed that there was no relationship between nesting success and canopy coverage (p= 0.818). We believe that this was due to factors such as soil composition and storm events, which impacted nesting success. Nevertheless, our digital map revealed a pattern, that nesting success was highest on the southwest corner of the island; this was most likely due to longer beaches and the absence of coral rubble.

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