Nova Southeastern University NSUWorks HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations HCNSO Student Work 7-28-2017 Investigating the Effect of Mechanical Beach Cleaning on Nesting, Hatching and Emergence Success of Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and Green (Chelonia mydas) Sea Turtles in Broward County, Florida Megan A. Earney Nova Southeastern University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd Part of the Marine Biology Commons, and the Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology Commons Share Feedback About This Item NSUWorks Citation Megan A. Earney. 2017. Investigating the Effect of Mechanical Beach Cleaning on Nesting, Hatching and Emergence Success of Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and Green (Chelonia mydas) Sea Turtles in Broward County, Florida. Master's thesis. Nova Southeastern University. Retrieved from NSUWorks, . (454) https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occ_stuetd/454. This Thesis is brought to you by the HCNSO Student Work at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Investigating the Effect of Mechanical Beach Cleaning on Nesting, Hatching and Emergence Success of Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and Green (Chelonia mydas) Sea Turtles in Broward County, Florida By Megan Earney Submitted to the Faculty of Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science with a specialty in: Marine Biology Nova Southeastern University Thesis of Megan A. Earney Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science: Marine Biology Megan Earney Nova Southeastern University Halmos College of Natural Sciences and Oceanography July 2017 Approved: Thesis Committee Major Professor: ______________________________ Derek Burkholder, Ph.D. Committee Member: ___________________________ Jeremy Vaudo, Ph.D. Committee Member: ___________________________ Kenneth Banks, Ph.D. i Table of Contents List of Figures .............................................................................................. iii List of Tables ................................................................................................iv Abstract .......................................................................................................... v Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 Materials and Methods ................................................................................. 4 Study Species .............................................................................................................................. 4 Loggerhead Sea Turtle ............................................................................................................. 4 Green Sea Turtle ...................................................................................................................... 5 Study area and surveys .............................................................................................................. 6 Calculation of nesting success on beaches with or without mechanical beach cleaning ......... 9 Calculation of hatching and emergence success on beaches with or without mechanical beach cleaning .......................................................................................................................... 9 Analysis ........................................................................................................ 10 Results .......................................................................................................... 12 Nest Success .............................................................................................................................. 12 Loggerhead Sea Turtles ......................................................................................................... 12 Green Sea Turtles ................................................................................................................... 16 Hatch Success............................................................................................................................ 20 Loggerhead Sea Turtles ......................................................................................................... 20 Green Sea Turtles ................................................................................................................... 23 Emergence Success ................................................................................................................... 26 Loggerhead Sea Turtles ......................................................................................................... 26 Green Sea Turtles ................................................................................................................... 29 Discussion ..................................................................................................... 32 Conclusion.................................................................................................... 35 Funding ........................................................................................................ 36 Acknowledgements...................................................................................... 37 Appendix ...................................................................................................... 38 References .................................................................................................... 43 ii List of Figures Figure 1. Map of loggerhead sea turtle nesting density (FWC/FWRI). .............................. 5 Figure 2. Green sea turtle nesting distribution of Florida (FWC/ FWRI). ......................... 6 Figure 3. Study area of Broward County (modified from Donahou, 2014).. ..................... 7 Figure 4. Loggerhead sea turtle nest success including comparing all cleaning type on FTL/P and HO/HA beaches. ..................................................................................... 13 Figure 5. Loggerhead sea turtle nest success including MJSP. ........................................ 14 Figure 6. Loggerhead sea turtle nesting success HTL only. 15 Figure 7. Loggerhead sea turtle nesting success with cleaning HTL and SB. .................. 16 Figure 8. Green sea turtle nest success including comparing all cleaning type on FTL/P and HO/HA beaches. ................................................................................................ 17 Figure 9. Green sea turtle nesting success, comparing no cleaning on all beaches (excluding MJSP)...................................................................................................... 18 Figure 10. Green sea turtle nesting success, comparing HTL only on beaches (excluding MJSP). ....................................................................................................................... 19 Figure 11. Green sea turtle nesting success comparing HTL and SB cleaning at Fort Lauderdale/Pompano and Hollywood/Hallandale beaches. ..................................... 20 Figure 12. Loggerhead sea turtle hatch success for all beaches. ...................................... 21 Figure 13. Loggerhead sea turtle hatch success excluding MJSP. ................................... 22 Figure 14. Loggerhead sea turtle hatching success where HTL and SB is the only cleaning method. ....................................................................................................... 23 Figure 15. Green sea turtle hatch success where there is no cleaning. ............................. 24 Figure 16. Green sea turtle hatch success where there is cleaning at HTL only. ............. 25 Figure 17. Green sea turtle hatching success where HTL and SB cleaning is present only. ................................................................................................................................... 26 Figure 18. Loggerhead sea turtle emergence success including MJSP. ........................... 27 Figure 19. Loggerhead sea turtle emergence success where HTL only cleaning occurs (excluding MJSP)...................................................................................................... 28 Figure 20. Loggerhead sea turtle emergence success where there is cleaning at HTL and SB only...................................................................................................................... 29 Figure 21. Green sea turtle emergence success among all beaches where no cleaning occurs. ....................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 22. Green sea turtle emergence success where there is cleaning at HTL only. ..... 31 Figure 23. Green sea turtle emergence success where cleaning occurs at HTL and SB only. .......................................................................................................................... 32 iii List of Tables Table 1. Model variations of fixed and random effects for each success rate. ................. 11 Table 2. Top two models and which was selected for loggerhead sea turtle nesting success for each cleaning type. ................................................................................. 12 Table 3. Top two models and which was selected for loggerhead sea turtle nesting success for each cleaning type. ................................................................................