Nesting activity of sea turtles, Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758) and Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758) (Reptilia, Cheloniidae), at Patara Beach (Antalya, Turkey) over four nesting seasons

Abstract

Patara Beach is one of the most important nesting beaches in Turkey for Caretta caretta. In this paper, we provide information on the nesting activity, spatial and temporal distribution of nesting, nesting and hatching success, nesting density, incubation duration, clutch size, and predation ratio of sea turtles over four nesting periods, namely 2010, 2012, 2013, and 2014. An average of 179.75 nests were recorded per year, and the overall nesting density was 15.50 nests/km while 68.20 loggerhead sea turtle eggs were recorded per nest. The hatching success was 44.05% from these counted eggs and 38.04% of hatchlings were able to reach the sea. We also observed 3 Chelonia mydas nests. The highest nesting activity during our monitoring over the past 20 years was obtained in 2013. The average annual number of turtle nests in Patara over 20 nesting seasons was 94.70.