Are we working towards global research priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles?

Type Article
Date 2016
Language English
Author(s) Rees A. F.1, Alfaro-Shigueto J.1, 2, 3, Barata P. C. R.4, Bjorndal K. A.5, Bolten A. B.5, Bourjea JeromeORCID6, Broderick A. C.1, Campbell L. M.7, Cardona L.8, Carreras C.9, Casale P.10, Ceriani S. A.11, 12, Dutton P. H.13, Eguchi T.13, Formia A.14, Fuentes M. M. P. B.15, Fuller W. J.16, Girondot M.17, Godfrey M. H.7, 18, 19, Hamann M20, Hart K. M.21, Hays G. C.22, Hochscheid S.23, Kaska Y.13, Jensen M. P.24, Mangel J. C.1, 2, Mortimer J. A.25, 26, Naro-Maciel E.27, Ng C. K. Y.28, 29, Nichols W. J.30, Phillott A. D.31, Reina R. D.32, Revuelta O.33, Schofield G., Seminoff J. A.13, Shanker K.34, 35, 36, Tomas J.33, Van De Merwe J. P.37, 38, Van Houtan K. S.7, 39, Vander Zanden H. B.5, Wallace B. P.7, 40, Wedemeyer-Strombel K. R.41, Work T. M.42, Godley B. J.1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Exeter, Sch Biosci, Ctr Ecol & Conservat, Marine Turtle Res Grp, Penryn Campus,Treliever Rd, Penryn TR10 9FE, Cornwall, England.
2 : ProDelphinus, Jose Galvez 780, Lima 18, Peru
3 : Universidad Cientifica del Sur, Facultad de Biología Marina, Campus Villa II, Lima 42, Peru
4 : Fundação Pró-Tamar, Rua Rubens Guelli 134 sala 307, 41815-135 Salvador - BA, Brazil
5 : Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research and Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
6 : Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer, Ifremer, UMR 248 MARBEC, Avenue Jean Monnet, 34200 Sète, France
7 : Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University Marine Lab, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
8 : IRBio and Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
9 : Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics and IRBio, University of Barcelona, Av. Diagonal 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
10 : Department of Biology, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
11 : Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, St. Petersburg, FL 33701, USA
12 : Department of Biological Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA
13 : Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
14 : Wildlife Conservation Society, Global Conservation Program, 2300 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY 10460, USA
15 : Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
16 : Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Near East University, Nicosia, Northern Cyprus, Mersin 10, Turkey
17 : Ecologie, Systématique, Evolution. Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, 91400 Orsay, France
18 : North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
19 : Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, NC State University, Morehead City, NC 28557, USA
20 : Marine Biology and Aquaculture, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, QLD 4811, Australia
21 : United States Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, 3321 College Avenue, Davie, FL 33314, USA
22 : Deakin University, Geelong, Australia, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Warrnambool, VIC 3280, Australia
23 : Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, 80121 Naples, Italy
24 : Pamukkale University, Department of Biology, 20100, Denizli, Turkey
25 : Turtle Action Group of Seychelles, PO Box 1443, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles
26 : Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
27 : New York University, 726 Broadway, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10003, USA
28 : Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China
29 : Department of Biology and Chemistry and State Key Laboratory in Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, PR China
30 : Research Associate, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA
31 : One Health Research Group, College of Public Health, Medical, and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD 4811, Australia
32 : School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, 25 Rainforest Walk, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia
33 : Marine Zoology Unit, Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology, University of Valencia, PO Box 22085, 46071 Valencia, Spain
34 : Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India
35 : Dakshin Foundation, Sahakara Nagara, Bangalore 560092, India
36 : Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Sriramapura, Bangalore 560064, India
37 : Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC 28516, USA
38 : Monterey Bay Aquarium, 886 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA 93940, USA
39 : Australian Rivers Institute and School of Environment, Griffith University, QLD 4222, Australia
40 : Abt Associates, 1881 Ninth Street, Suite 201, Boulder, CO 80302, USA
41 : Environmental Science & Engineering Program, Biology Bldg., University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Ave., El Paso, TX 79968, USA
42 : United States Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center, Honolulu Field Station, PO Box 50167, Honolulu, HI 96850, USA
Source Endangered Species Research (1863-5407) (Inter-research), 2016 , Vol. 31 , P. 337-382
DOI 10.3354/esr00801
WOS© Times Cited 204
Keyword(s) Sea turtle, Marine conservation, Evidence-based conservation, Systematic review, Research prioritisation
Abstract In 2010, an international group of 35 sea turtle researchers refined an initial list of more than 200 research questions into 20 metaquestions that were considered key for management and conservation of sea turtles. These were classified under 5 categories: reproductive biology, biogeography, population ecology, threats and conservation strategies. To obtain a picture of how research is being focused towards these key questions, we undertook a systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature (2014 and 2015) attributing papers to the original 20 questions. In total, we reviewed 605 articles in full and from these 355 (59%) were judged to substantively address the 20 key questions, with others focusing on basic science and monitoring. Progress to answering the 20 questions was not uniform, and there were biases regarding focal turtle species, geographic scope and publication outlet. Whilst it offers some meaningful indications as to effort, quantifying peer-reviewed literature output is obviously not the only, and possibly not the best, metric for understanding progress towards informing key conservation and management goals. Along with the literature review, an international group based on the original project consortium was assigned to critically summarise recent progress towards answering each of the 20 questions. We found that significant research is being expended towards global priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles. Although highly variable, there has been significant progress in all the key questions identified in 2010. Undertaking this critical review has highlighted that it may be timely to undertake one or more new prioritizing exercises. For this to have maximal benefit we make a range of recommendations for its execution. These include a far greater engagement with social sciences, widening the pool of contributors and focussing the questions, perhaps disaggregating ecology and conservation.
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Rees A. F., Alfaro-Shigueto J., Barata P. C. R., Bjorndal K. A., Bolten A. B., Bourjea Jerome, Broderick A. C., Campbell L. M., Cardona L., Carreras C., Casale P., Ceriani S. A., Dutton P. H., Eguchi T., Formia A., Fuentes M. M. P. B., Fuller W. J., Girondot M., Godfrey M. H., Hamann M, Hart K. M., Hays G. C., Hochscheid S., Kaska Y., Jensen M. P., Mangel J. C., Mortimer J. A., Naro-Maciel E., Ng C. K. Y., Nichols W. J., Phillott A. D., Reina R. D., Revuelta O., Schofield G., Seminoff J. A., Shanker K., Tomas J., Van De Merwe J. P., Van Houtan K. S., Vander Zanden H. B., Wallace B. P., Wedemeyer-Strombel K. R., Work T. M., Godley B. J. (2016). Are we working towards global research priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles? Endangered Species Research, 31, 337-382. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00801 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00366/47698/