ORIGIN OF HAWKSBILL TURTLES IN A CARIBBEAN FEEDING AREA AS INDICATED BY GENETIC-MARKERS

Hawksbill turtles move between nesting colonies and feeding grounds, b ut in most cases it is not known which reproductive populations occupy a particular feeding habitat. In this study, genetic markers derived from mitochondrial DNA sequences are used to estimate the contribution of Caribbean nesting colonies to a feeding ground at Mona Island, Pue rto Rico (n = 41). Maximum likelihood analysis indicates that this fee ding population is not composed primarily of turtles from the neighbor ing nesting colony (also on Mona Island), but is drawn from nesting po pulations throughout the Caribbean region. A sampled nesting colony in the southern hemisphere (Bahia, Brazil) did not contribute, at detect able levels, to the Mona Island feeding ground. From this evidence, we concluded that hawksbill turtles recruit to feeding grounds over a sc ale of hundreds of kilometres, but not over the scale of 7000 km that separate Mona Island from Bahia, Brazil. These data indicate that a ha wksbill turtle harvest on feeding grounds will reduce nesting populati ons throughout the Caribbean region.