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Sea Turtle Nest Impacts Being Assessed
From Aug. 3-5, Tropical Storm Debby brought around 4-6 inches of rain, high winds, and storm surge to Sanibel and Captiva Islands.
SCCF Coastal Wildlife biologists are still assessing impacts to sea turtle nests, using GPS coordinates with less than 3-centimeter accuracy to search for nests where stakes have washed away.
“Data from our moisture and temperature loggers indicate that some nests experienced a significant drop in temperature and increased moisture as the tide influenced the clutch,” said Coastal Wildlife Director Kelly Sloan. “The temperature in the nest displayed below dropped about 10 degrees during the storm.”
The timing of the storm was earlier than Idalia and Ian in recent years, which means there were still more than 500 nests incubating on the beaches, and there will likely be more washed out nests from Debby, Sloan said.
Late last August, Hurricane Idalia led to over 100 sea turtle nest losses on Sanibel and Captiva. Hurricane Ian in September 2022 occurred when sea turtle season was already beginning to wind down, so the vast majority of nests had already hatched and been inventoried. There were 17 remaining nests when Ian hit, only one of which, a green sea turtle nest, survived (but did not hatch).
“It’s important to remember that storm season directly overlaps with sea turtle nesting season and is a natural part of their life cycle,” she said. “Females have a nesting strategy that accommodates for storms — they lay multiple nests per season every 10-14 days so that even if one nest washes away, there’s a high likelihood that another one of her nests will produce hatchlings.”
While prolonged inundation can drown developing embryos or wash out eggs, brief wash overs can sometimes have a beneficial cooling effect.
Learn more about how tropical storms and hurricanes impact sea turtles and sea turtle nests.
This year, Sanibel and Captiva have had 832 loggerhead nests, 3 green turtle nests, and 1 leatherback nest. So far, 12,856 hatchlings have emerged, including 12,816 loggerheads and 40 leatherbacks.