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A comprehensive mitochondrial DNA mixed-stock analysis clarifies the composition of loggerhead turtle aggregates in the Adriatic Sea

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Abstract

Migration is one of several marine vertebrate traits increasingly affected by human encroachment. The Adriatic Sea is an important foraging and wintering site for loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta), and one of the Mediterranean regions where they are most heavily impacted, particularly by fisheries bycatch. Conservation measures concern foraging and wintering areas and nesting grounds, and must, therefore, be informed by the natal origin of individuals in these mixed aggregates. Genetic diversity was investigated among 488 loggerheads found stranded or incidentally captured in fishing gear across the Adriatic and the origin of individuals was assessed through mixed-stock analysis based on comparison of 755 bp of mitochondrial DNA control region sequence. In addition, we highlight the importance of the Gulf of Manfredonia (Apulia, Italy), and of the northeastern Adriatic—a previously genetically undescribed foraging ground. No significant genetic divergence was recorded among sampling areas, between turtles sampled in cold and warm months or between adults and juveniles. The distribution of turtles across the Adriatic Sea appeared not to depend on individual origin. Rookeries in western Greece and Crete provided the most important contributions to the Adriatic mixed stock. In particular, the Greek populations were the most abundant locally in the Gulf of Manfredonia, so they are likely to experience an even greater impact than previously thought because of the severe fishery bycatch levels in this area. This study also provides an example of how substantial increases in sample sizes permit a relatively comprehensive testing of genetic structure across groupings in foraging aggregations.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the University of Florence, the Italian Department of Fishery and Aquaculture (BYCATCH Project—Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry), the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, the European Union NETCET project (IPA Inter-Adriatic), and the Slovenian Research Agency under Grant P1-0386. We thank Fondazione Cetacea ONLUS, the Veneto stranding network (Coordinamento Tartarughe marine del Litorale Veneto), WWF (Area Marina Protetta di Miramare, Trieste), and F. Zuppa and M. Tempesta from APS DelTa for support and for providing samples from the northwestern Adriatic. We are also grateful to V. Angelini, E. Filidei jr, L. Mizzan, G. Palmisano, P. Perlasca, S. Pari, and E. Zanetti for their help with sample collection and to P. Blasi and L. Testa for the assistance during lab work. All collaborating fishermen are particularly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Florence, Via Madonna del Piano 6, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, FI, Italy

    Livia Tolve, Angela Formia, Chiara Natali, Guido Chelazzi & Claudio Ciofi

  2. Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Via Alessandro Volta 6, 56126, Pisa, Italy

    Paolo Casale

  3. Global Conservation Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY, 10460, USA

    Angela Formia

  4. Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Regioni Lazio e Toscana, Centro di Referenza Nazionale per la Medicina Forense Veterinaria, Via Tancia 21, 02100, Rieti, Italy

    Luisa Garofalo

  5. Department of Biodiversity, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Glagoljaška 8, 6000, Koper, Slovenia

    Bojan Lazar & Elena Bužan

  6. Marine Sciences Program, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, Zagrebačka 30, 52100, Pula, Croatia

    Bojan Lazar

  7. Department of Biology, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133, Rome, Italy

    Andrea Novelletto

  8. A.R.C.H.È. Onlus, Via Mulinetto 40/A, 44122, Ferrara, Italy

    Carola Vallini

  9. Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), National Research Council (CNR), Largo Fiera della Pesca 1, 60125, Ancona, Italy

    Stefania Gaspari

  10. Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA), Via Vitaliano Brancati 60, 00144, Rome, Italy

    Caterina Fortuna

  11. Department of Anatomy and Physiology, University of Applied Health Sciences, Mlinarska cesta 38, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Ivna Kocijan

  12. Department of Biology, University of Applied Health Sciences, Mlinarska cesta 38, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Ivna Kocijan

  13. Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Science, University of Padua, Viale dell’Università 16, Agripolis, 35020, Legnaro, PD, Italy

    Erica Marchiori & Lisa Poppi

  14. Museum of Natural History of Venice, Santa Croce 1730, 30125, Venice, Italy

    Nicola Novarini

  15. Panda Molfetta Onlus, Via Puccini 16, 70056, Molfetta, Italy

    Pasquale Salvemini

Authors
  1. Livia Tolve
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  2. Paolo Casale
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  3. Angela Formia
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  4. Luisa Garofalo
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  5. Bojan Lazar
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  6. Chiara Natali
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  7. Andrea Novelletto
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  8. Carola Vallini
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  9. Elena Bužan
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  10. Guido Chelazzi
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  11. Stefania Gaspari
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  12. Caterina Fortuna
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  13. Ivna Kocijan
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  14. Erica Marchiori
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  15. Nicola Novarini
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  16. Lisa Poppi
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  17. Pasquale Salvemini
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  18. Claudio Ciofi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudio Ciofi.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All applicable international, national, and institutional guidelines for the care of animals were followed. This work was conducted under all necessary permits. Live bycaught sea turtles were released after sample collection according to the IUCN/SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group guidelines (Eckert et al. 1999). None of the procedures used in the study met the criteria which would define them as “experiments” according to article 2 of the Council of European Communities Directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes. Approval by the institutional ethics committee (Commissione per l’Etica della Ricerca di Ateneo, University of Florence) was not required.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: C. Eizaguirre.

Reviewed by B. Shamblin, Y. Tikochinski and an undisclosed expert.

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Tolve, L., Casale, P., Formia, A. et al. A comprehensive mitochondrial DNA mixed-stock analysis clarifies the composition of loggerhead turtle aggregates in the Adriatic Sea. Mar Biol 165, 68 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-018-3325-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-018-3325-z

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