The schedule and abstract book for #SeaTurtleTalks Twitter event is now finalised! We will have presentations showcasing the latest #seaturtle #research, #conservation, #management and #outreach; covering multiple time zones and continents! 🗺️🐢

2/7 We deployed multi-sensor recorders (accelerometer, gyroscope and time-depth recorder) combined with animal-borne video-recorder to validate the signal on immature green turtles in Martinique.

1/7 Evidence for the independent evolution of visual perception during seafinding by hatchling leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) 🐢#SeaTurtleTalks #TurtleTuesday

2/7 Hatchling sea turtles crawl toward the lowest and brightest horizon when they emerge from nests at night #seafinding. Differences in spectral sensitivities driven by different life histories could lead to the independent evolution of this innate behavior. #SeaTurtleTalks

3/7 Leatherback sea turtles are the largest and most distantly related extant sea turtle species. They are uniquely deep-diving, pelagic across all life stages, and forage exclusively on gelatinous zooplankton making their visual environment quite distinct. #SeaTurtleTalks

4/7 Y-maze studies revealed that leatherback and cheloniid hatchlings were both most sensitive to shorter wavelengths but differed in their overall sensitivity. At most tested wavelengths, leatherbacks were 10-100x less sensitive than their cheloniid relatives. #SeaTurtleTalks

5/7 Leatherbacks also showed a unique increase in sensitivity near 480 nm. This peak sensitivity corresponds with wavelengths around 475 nm that penetrate deepest in clear ocean water (ideal for #deepdivers but unnecessary for shallow water inhabiting cheloniids). #SeaTurtleTalks

6/7 Perceptual sensitivity thresholds were below the light levels available on the beach at night, but leatherback hatchlings took longer to reach the water and exhibited circling behavior more often under new moon conditions. A difference not seen in cheloniids. #SeaTurtleTalks

7/7 Together this suggests the evolution of visual perception during seafinding is not driven by the visual environment of the beach shared by both leatherbacks and cheloniids but instead the differing visual ecologies of these species after their initial crawl. #SeaTurtleTalks

Over the past years, the number of #OliveRidleys strandings has increased in this region. Despite their high abundance #Worldwide, little is known about the genetic characteristics of these #Turtles in the #AtlanticOcean. There is no information on their #GeneticDiversity 2/7

1/6 #SeaTurtleTalks🐢Have you seen #seaturtles in the water? @iSeaTurtle is a #CitizenScience app that allows you to participate in #seaturtle research/conservation! Follow this🧵to learn more about this initiative with Dustin Baumbach, PhD TIRN Calhoun Marine Extension & @pamelaplotkin!

3/6 As🐢numbers increased all across #Texas bays, so did the interest of the local community in sea turtles and their conservation. In 2020, we launched lisa chavez as a platform to encourage and involve citizens to contribute to #seaturtle science

3/7 We use calipers to measure nesting sea turtles at night. Our crew noticed that small turtles seemed to be more common, so we decided to look at the data. #longtermdata #fieldwork #UCFTurtleLab