Natural beaches produce more hatchling marine turtles than developed beaches, despite regional differences in hatching success

摘要

Recently I used a meta-analysis to show that globally, both loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nests laid on natural beaches have higher hatching success than nests laid on beaches with permanent human development (Pike 2008). My analysis pooled data from several geographical regions and was restricted to published studies reporting such data, owing to inherent problems with datasets that have not undergone peer review (e.g. Debachere 1995; Lacanilao 1997). Consequently, Fuentes & Hamann (2009) have three main concerns with my work: (i) the original analysis did not control for regional differences in hatching success, (ii) there may be fundamental differences in the quality of developed beaches, such that they have inherently low levels of hatching success, even prior to development occurring, and (iii) the conservation outcomes of this broad pattern may be difficult to apply at local levels. Here I re-analyse the original dataset and show that (i) the original patternremains the same even after accounting for regional variation and genetic influences, and (ii) the developed and natural beaches used in the original analysis experience similar environmental conditions, thereby (iii) reinforcing the conservation implications of this pattern.