Data from: Natal foraging philopatry in eastern Pacific hawksbill turtles

The complex processes involved with animal migration have long been a subject of biological interest and broad-scale movement patterns of many marine turtle populations still remain unresolved. While it is widely accepted that once marine turtles reach sexual maturity they home to natal areas for nesting or reproduction, the role of philopatry to natal areas during other life stages has received less scrutiny, despite widespread evidence across the taxa. Here we report on genetic research that indicates that juvenile hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) in the eastern Pacific Ocean use foraging grounds in the region of their natal beaches, a pattern we term natal foraging philopatry (NFP). Our findings confirm that traditional views of natal homing solely for reproduction are incomplete and that many marine turtle species exhibit philopatry to natal areas to forage. Our results have important implications for life-history research and conservation of marine turtles and may extend to other wide-ranging marine vertebrates that demonstrate natal philopatry.

动物迁徙所涉及的复杂过程长期以来一直是生物学研究的核心议题，而诸多海龟种群的大范围移动模式至今仍未得到明确阐释。尽管学界普遍认可，海龟达到性成熟后会返回出生地开展筑巢或繁殖活动，但尽管在各类海龟类群中已积累了大量相关证据，关于归巢性（philopatry）在其其他生命阶段所发挥的作用的研究却相对匮乏。本研究通过遗传学分析表明，东太平洋海域的幼年玳瑁海龟（Eretmochelys imbricata）会利用其出生地海滩周边区域的觅食地，我们将这一行为模式命名为出生地觅食归巢性（natal foraging philopatry，NFP）。本研究结果证实，以往认为海龟归巢行为仅服务于繁殖的传统观点并不全面，诸多海龟物种会返回出生地觅食并展现出归巢性。本研究结果对海龟的生活史研究与物种保护工作具有重要参考价值，其研究范式或可推广至其他表现出出生地归巢性的广域海洋脊椎动物类群。