Mémoire
| Résumé : | Over the past 100 years, harvesting of eggs and adults, fisheries by-catch, and habitat degradation have resulted in worldwide sea turtle populations decrease. Different turtle conservation programs have been implemented to protect sea turtle. The Green turtle is the most abundant species of sea turtle in Malaysia and Chagar Hutang beach on Redang Island is their main nesting site in Peninsular Malaysia. Since 1993, nesting turtles of Chagar Hutang were monitored and data on morphometry and reproductive output were collected. Through analyzing this data, our study aims to (1) describe morphometry and reproductive output of green turtles nesting at Chagar Hutang; (2) compare the morphometry and reproductive output between first time nesters and remigrants; and (3) provide suggestions to improve data collection techniques based on results observed.Overall, we found that the clutch size and the total eggs per season were positively correlated to the Curved Carapace Length (CCL) of turtles nesting at Chagar Hutang. We observed a significant increase of CCL between first time nesters and remigrants. However, we could not confirm that reproductive output (i.e. number of clutches per season, clutch size, eggs per season) increased between first time nesters and remigrants. We suggest creating a common database between the different Turtle Sanctuaries of Redang Island; collecting more precise and accurate CCL data; GPS tracking of nesting turtles during their nesting and remigration intervals; studying genetic diversity of nesting turtles between thedifferent nesting sites of Peninsular Malaysia. |
