Samplings: March 2008

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Hawaiian green turtle and monk seal sleeping on the beach at East Island, French Frigate Shoals, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands 

George H. Balazs

Of the world’s seven species of sea turtle, six are considered endangered or threatened due to humankind’s exploitation of their meat, eggs, and habitat. But despite that gloomy statistic, all is not lost: a recent paper announces the happy discovery that one of the endangered species is on the rebound. The green sea turtle, Chelonia mydas, inhabits tropical waters worldwide. A team led by Milani Chaloupka of Ecological Modelling Services in Queensland, Australia, compiled the numbers of nesting C. mydas females recorded in long-term studies at six of the world’s major rookeries: two in Australia and one each in Japan, Hawaii, Costa Rica, and Florida. In all six rookeries the team found the number of nesting females has been steadily increasing during the past twenty-five years, and with it the species’ global population. The team attributes the good news to extensive conservation of C. mydas habitat and to laws banning the use of turtle eggs, shells, and meat. Indeed, some populations of other sea turtle species are growing, too. Even so, all of them still have a lot of nesting to do before they achieve a full recovery. (Global Ecology and Biogeography)