Nesting Begins Early: The Leatherbacks Are Back

Did you hear the news? Even though it’s only February, some leatherback nests have already been spotted in Palm Beach and Martin counties. Although the sea turtle nesting season officially begins in Southeast Florida on March 1st, leatherbacks are getting an early start. Take a look at these nest photos posted on Facebook:

• February 10^th – Florida Leatherbacks, Inc.
• February 12^th – Ecological Associates, Inc.
• February 16^th – Sea Turtle Adventures

In addition, researchers at the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach found their first leatherback nest of the season on February 16th. It was the earliest one they’ve ever recorded. Read more at: Florida Weekly, Palm Beach Edition: “Earliest Nest Ever Recorded.”

Why Are Leatherbacks Nesting So Early?

Sea turtles have existed for more than 100 million years and during that time, they have had to adapt to many changes in Earth’s climate. Sea turtle researchers believe that today’s sea turtles may cope with current global warming trends using the following strategies: *

• Shifting the distribution of their nesting areas
• Changing nest site selection
• Nesting earlier or later
• Changing nest depth
• Altering their migration routes

* Source: “How Will Sea Turtles Cope with Climate Change?” by Mariana Fuentes and Lucy Hawkes, The State of the World’s Sea Turtles (SWOT), Volume 6, February 1, 2011.

So, changing when they nest is just one way that sea turtles are adapting to the increasingly warming world. But that leads to another question.

Will Early Nesting Be Enough to Counter the Effects of Global Warming?

New research by Associate Professor Mariana Fuentes and her team at the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science at Florida State University (FSU) examines this topic. In collaboration with other universities from 16 other countries, they studied 24 nesting sites all over the world in order to predict nesting success. Unfortunately, they found that even when sea turtles nested early, it was not enough to counter the increased temperatures of the nesting grounds. Dr. Fuentes summed up their research as follows: “Skeptics may say that sea turtles have been around for a long time and have adapted, but we’re showing that the adaptations that they might undertake are not going to be sufficient to counteract projected impacts.”

Read more about this research study in the Florida State University News article “FSU-led Research Shows Shifting Nesting Timing Not Enough to Prevent Fewer Sea Turtle Hatchlings.”

More Information on Dr. Fuentes’ Research

Dr. Fuentes was the guest speaker at the STPS September meeting in 2023 and discussed her team’s sea turtle research projects. To learn more, see page 19 of the STPS Fall Turtle Talk Newsletter.