Temporal Trends in the Hatching Activity of Leatherback Sea Turtles on the West Coast of Puerto Rico from 1992-2008

The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), a species considered vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, is found nesting on the island of Puerto Rico. In this study, nesting and hatching activity were analyzed for the first 17 years of collected data, 1992-2008, from El Balneario beach in the town of A�asco on the west coast of Puerto Rico. These data were obtained from Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), a strand of the government of Puerto Rico. The study data were separated into two bins of the first and last years (bin 1: 1992-1997, excluding 1996, and bin 2: 2004-2008). There were significantly more nesting events (i.e., act of a sea turtle burying its eggs) in bin 2 than in bin 1. However, significantly more eggs hatched and more sea turtles emerged from the nest to the sand in bin 1 than in bin 2. Nest disturbances (poaching, light pollution, and compacted sand) did not significantly affect the percentage of eggs that successfully hatched or emerged in a nest. The likelihood of a nest to have zero hatched eggs was higher in nesting areas disturbed by light pollution. Studies on the results of conservation efforts on sea turtle reproduction have not been conducted at many of the breeding locations in Puerto Rico. The conservation efforts by the government and community may have increased nesting events. The DNER worked on educating and involving the community in monitoring efforts by encouraging them to volunteer and become stewards of the sea turtles and the nesting beach. For example, at the beginning of the project the community would not report activities that were detrimental to sea turtles or hatching and nesting events. In contrast, during the last years of the study, the community was heavily involved in educating other community members, the monitoring of the beach for sea turtle activities and reporting negative anthropogenic factors that can impact sea turtles. Lower numbers in hatching and emergence success may be attributed to effects on egg development created by a potential increase in the presence of fungi (Fusarium solani) and bacteria (Serratia marcescens), as well as temperature and humidity in the nest clutch