Survivorship during the juvenile oceanic phase likely acts as a bottleneck on the growth of sea turtle populations, and starvation mortality through this period is one potential factor influencing year class strength. We combined a simulation of juvenile Kemp's ridley ( sea turtle dispersal based on an ocean circulation model with an Atlantis ecosystem model to examine the spatial overlap of young sea turtles with their prey resources. We were particularly interested in whether ocean currents facilitated the movement of juveniles from western Gulf nesting beaches to areas in the eastern Gulf along the West Florida Shelf (WFS) with adequate food availability. We found that strong frontal gradients on the WFS may increase the potential for juveniles to remain offshore in areas of high prey availability, allowing for more feeding opportunities during critical early life stages. Additionally, we found that multiple climatological indices are related to Gulf-wide patterns of juvenile dispersal, potentially via effects on the Loop Current. Findings from this study hold implications for continued population viability of protected sea turtle populations in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as other species with early life stages that disperse via ocean currents such as commercially important fishes.

中文翻译：

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模拟西佛罗里达大陆架幼年坎普氏丽龟的运输和喂养

幼年海洋阶段的存活率可能是海龟种群增长的瓶颈，而这一时期的饥饿死亡率是影响年级强度的一个潜在因素。我们将基于海洋环流模型的幼年坎普氏海龟扩散模拟与亚特兰蒂斯生态系统模型相结合，以研究幼年海龟与其猎物资源的空间重叠。我们特别感兴趣的是洋流是否促进了幼年海龟的移动从西部海湾筑巢海滩到东部海湾沿西佛罗里达大陆架 (WFS) 的区域，食物供应充足。我们发现，WFS 上强烈的锋面梯度可能会增加幼鱼留在高猎物可用性区域的近海可能性，从而允许在关键的早期生命阶段获得更多的进食机会。此外，我们发现多种气候指数与整个海湾范围内的幼鱼扩散模式有关，可能是通过对环流的影响。这项研究的结果对受保护海域的种群持续生存能力具有影响墨西哥湾的海龟种群，以及其他通过洋流传播的早期生命阶段物种，例如具有重要商业价值的鱼类。