Energy expenditure of adult green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at their foraging grounds and during simulated oceanic migration

Measuring the energy requirements of animals under natural conditions and determining how acquired energy is allocated to specific activities is a central theme in ecophysiology.
Turtle reproductive output is fundamentally linked with their energy balance so a detailed understanding of marine turtle energy requirements during the different phases of their life cycle at sea is essential for their conservation.
We used the non-invasive accelerometry technique to investigate the activity patterns and energy expenditure (EE) of adult green turtles (Chelonia mydas) foraging year-round at a seagrass meadow in Mayotte (n = 13) and during simulated oceanic migration (displacement from the nesting beach) off Mohéli (n = 1), in the south-western Indian Ocean.
At the foraging site, turtles divided their days between foraging benthically on the shallow seagrass meadow during daylight hours and resting at greater depth on the inner side of the reef slope at night. Estimated oxygen consumption rat...