Nesting of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at Ascension Island, South Atlantic

A detailed survey of the nesting by green turtles (Chelonia mydas) on Ascen sion Island (7 degrees 57' S, 14 degrees 22' W) was conducted between 1 Dec ember 1998 and 1 October 1999. During this period there was a total estimat e of 36,036 marine turtle nesting activities, resulting in the deposition o f an estimated 13,881 clutches (95% confidence limits 13,092-14,660). These data suggest that 2-3 times more turtles nested than when previous detaile d surveys were undertaken in the 1970's. The peak of nesting was in March, with 95% of nesting activity being recorded between 4 January and 18 May. P ossible reasons for the evolution of the seasonality of nesting are discuss ed. Individual beaches varied greatly in density of nesting activities (ran ge=534-10,001 activities/km; mean=6204 activities:km), density of nests (ra nge=213-5200 nests/km; mean=2390 nests/km) and the proportion of nesting ac tivities resulting in nests (nesting success; range = 0.13-0.52; mean = 0.3 9). (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.