δ^15N and δ^13C measurements from the hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, used for scute sourcing

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The hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata is listed the IUCN Red List as critically endangered. At the COP 10 of the CITES meeting held in i997, Cuba proposed to downlist the population of hawksbills from Appendix I to Appendix II to allow limited trade. In this reportδ^15N and δ^13C measurements were used for scute-sourcing, whereδ^13C values allow differentiation between oceanic plankton ecosystems and coral reef ecosystems, and δ^15N values indicate the consumer’s trophic level in a regional food web. A total of 118 scute samples were analyzed from the Caribbean Sea region including Cuba, Haiti and Mexico, from the Pacific Ocean region and from the Indian Ocean region. Breeding individuals from Cuba had higher δ^15N vaglues than wild individuals from Cuba, indicating the isotope analysis will be useful for distinguishing the scutes of breeding populations, which will be targeted for export approval under CITES, from the wild populations specimens obtained by traditional fishing. The samples from the Caribbean Sea region are characterized by less negative δ^13C values than samples from the Pacific Ocean region, suggesting a higher dependance on coral ecosystems. The most positiveδ^15N values were from the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, suggesting a higher dependance on sponges or other animal species.
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