Document Type

Dataset

DOI

10.20429/data.2022.01

Publication Date

9-9-2022

Description

These data were collected as part of the loggerhead sea turtle hatching success study which examined the role of different environmental parameters on hatching success on Ossabaw Island beaches in Georgia, USA. Field data collected includes nest ID, lay date, inventory date, location, dune strike and dip, elevation, eggs in clutch, incubation period, chamber depth, vegetation cover, sediment moisture content, distance to high tide line, number of washovers, nest temperature, and the numbers of hatched and unhatched eggs at the end of the incubation period. The dataset also contains Rcode for the structural equation modeling used in this study.

Comments

See included readme files at each directory level for codes, variables, and viewing instructions.

Data Collection Start Date

5-8-2017

Data Collection End Date

10-12-2018

Methodology

All beaches on Ossabaw Island were monitored daily during Georgia’s nesting season (May 5 - September 8, 2017; May 3 - September 26, 2018). New nests were located by observation of turtle tracks in the sand culminating in the presence of a body pit and thrown sand. When an egg chamber was located, sand was removed from the top of the chamber, eggs were carefully removed and counted, egg chamber depth (to the bottom of the chamber) was measured, and eggs were returned to the nest. A HOBO Pendant Temperature Data Logger (accuracy ± 0.53°C) set to record temperature at 30-minute intervals was placed in the middle of the nest. For the duration of the nest incubation, nests were visually inspected daily. Tidal washovers were recorded daily, and any incidence of predation was noted; predator screens were maintained following Georgia DNR protocols. Nests were inspected and maintained daily until predation, hatchling tracks were found, or until 70 days after the nest was deposited. Once hatchling tracks were observed leaving a nest, the nest was marked as hatched, and the nest was inventoried five days later. Nest moisture content was measured using an Aquaterr EC-350 Digital Soil Moisture, Temperature, and Salinity Meter (accuracy ± 2%), which measured moisture via capacitance, for each nest every 10-16 days (4-5 times per nest during incubation). A Trimble R8 real-time kinematic (RTK) satellite navigation system was used to measure the elevation of nests above sea level in meters (accuracy ± 0.02 m) within the NAVD88 geodetic datum, U.S. State Plane 1983 Georgia East Zone projection. Vegetation was recorded after the initial nest excavation by placing 1m2 gridded quadrat such that the nest was at the center of the quadrat. The dip and strike of the dune face, or beach slope, of the nest were measured using a Brunton pocket transit using standard methods.

Coverage

Field surveys conducted along the entire ~17km stretch of Ossabaw Island beaches. The island’s oceanside coast consists of five beaches, separated by small tidal creeks. The beaches include North Beach (~7 km), North Middle (~2 km), Middle Middle (~1 km), South Middle (~5 km), and South Beach (~2 km).

Language

eng

File Size

19 KB

File Format

.csv, .txt, .zip

Rights

This data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Please cite this data set in any publications that use this data.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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