Browsing by Author "Caillouet, Charles W., Jr."
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Item Detection, Verification and Decoding of Tags and Marks in Head Started Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles, Lepidochelys kempii(United States Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1993-12) Williams, Theodore D.; Revera, Dickie B.; Fontaine, Clark T.; Caillouet, Charles W., Jr.Preparation of this manual was motivated by recommendations made by a peer review panel of experts who evaluated the Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) head start experiment at the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Southeast Fisheries Science Center's (SEFSC)Galveston Laboratory on September 22-23, 1992 (Eckert et al. 1992). After examining the head start experimental design, data and analytical results, the panel expressed the goal of the experiment in the following hypotheses (modified slightly for clarity by the authors of this paper; see also Wibbels et al. 1989): (1) Head starting can provide Kemp's ridley juveniles which are able to join the natural population, mature, find their way to nesting beaches and procreate (produce viable progeny), and (2) head started turtles demonstrate equivalent or superior biological fitness, defined as equal or better survival rates from egg to reproductive adult, and equivalent fecundity as compared to wild Kemp's ridleys.Item Early Growth in Weight of Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles (Lepidochelys kempii) in Captivity(Gulf Research Reports, 1997) Caillouet, Charles W., Jr.; Fontaine, Clark T.; Williams, Theodore D.; Manzella-Tirpak, Sharon A.Growth in individual weight (w, kg) of Kemp's ridley sea turtles (lepidochelys kempii) in captivity was described for 15 year-classes (1978-1992) of turtles between ages (t) 0.17 to 1.22 yr, using ln- linear regression: lnw = lnc + dt^1/2, where lnc is the intercept and d is the slope (growth rate index). There was significant (P < 0.001) heterogeneity in d among year-classes, with slowest growth (d = 3.798) exhibited by the 1983 year-class and fastest growth (d = 6.929) by the 1985 year-class, but there was no significant trend in d (P = 0.307) over year-classes. The variance of residuals from regression, s^2(reg), ranged from 0.2032 for the 1978 year-class to 0.0075 for the 1992 year-class, and showed a significant (P = 0.0001) logarithmic decrease over the year-classes. This decline in variation among individuals was probably due to a shift toward sex ratios dominated by one sex (females), improvements in rearing facilities, year-around control of seawater temperature which reduced disease incidence, improved diet, and reduced feeding levels. The relationship between w and scl (straight carapace length) was also described.Item Swimming performance of captive-reared Kemp's ridley sea turtles Lepidochelys kempi (Garman)(Elsevier Science Publishers, 1992) Stabenau, Erich K.; Landry, Andre M., Jr.; Caillouet, Charles W., Jr.Swimming performace of Kemp's ridley sea turtles Lepidochelys kempi (Garman) was evaluated over a 6-month period to determine whether an exercise regime increased swimming capacity in captive reared turtles. Three experimental treatments included: (1) turtles exercised twice weekely and exposed to a weekly stamina test; (2) turtles subjected only to a weekly stamina test; and (3) non-exercised controls exposed to a single stamina test at the end of the study. No statistically difference in swimming capacity was detected between treatments 1 and 2, although treatment 1 turtles achieved higher performance levels than those from treatment 2. However, treatment 1 turtles exhibited fewer breaths/min (BRM) and foreflipper strokes per minute (FSM) during stamina tests than did treatment 2 turtles. In contrast, control turtles (treatment 3) were unable to achieve the minimum swimming performance level. These results indicate that the swimming performances of exercised turtles significantly improved during captive rearing. The possible effects of an exercise regime on post-release survival potential are discussed.