Green turtle diet research

GVI Costa Rica first had the pleasure of Hannah Van Zander acquaintance back in November 2008, when Diogo met her at the Mesoamerican Conference for Biology and Conservation, where we presented the results of the Jaguar Predation of Marine Turtles Study and won the top prize of the conference.

Hannah is studying the diet of the green turtle through a variety of tissue sampling. She is currently stationed with the CCC in Tortuguero and is patrolling with them to collect blood and tissue samples that she is able to analyse to show short term feeding preferences.

The advantage of working with the scutes collected from the predated turtles in our study is that with stable isotope analysis she should be able to determine feeding preferences over the life of the turtle, as isotopes will be present in different proportions depending on what was consumed by the turtle at that time.

Recent studies from Asia have suggested that green turtles, which get their name from the green colouration their fatty tissues take on from consuming so much sea grass, may not be strictly omnivorous, having the ability to switch their dietary preference depending on environmental pressures. This work could give us a better understanding of the needs of these turtles, which can help us understand how best to act for the conservation of endangered green turtle populations.

Green turtle diet research