REsearch Goals

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One of the first things we learned about the South Florida aggregation is that there are many more hawksbills than were expected!  So far, just over 300 individuals have been captured and documented between Jupiter and Key West, and we continue to encounter new ones on a regular basis. Though not abundant compared to other sea turtle species in Florida, this expanding database indicates how supportive the reefs of Florida are for young hawksbill turtles, which has a regional significance for their overall recovery.

 Most of the hawksbills found in South Florida are sub-adults, or “teenagers”. As with other sea turtles, their life-stage often dictates their general whereabouts. We call the reefs of South Florida “developmental habitat” for young turtles who will someday depart as young adults to join the rest of the reproductive population in the region. It is essential to the future of the species that this especially vulnerable segment of the population finds safe refuge as it passes through this challenging life-stage.  We are particularly interested in monitoring the balance between males and females in the population, as warming nest temperatures can tilt the gender of the hatchlings toward an increasingly high proportion of females. 

 Among the most basic questions biologists often ask about any species is the extent of its range and the time it takes the offspring to reach maturity. Because sea turtles are notoriously difficult to follow, we employ basic marking techniques that can include external flipper tags, internal microchips, and even satellite tracking devices to gain insight into habitat use, social interactions, and time to maturity. Young hawksbills tend to take up residence is fairly small areas for extended periods of time, which has permitted us to re-encounter and re-evaluate dozens of known individuals as they grow toward maturity. 

all within close proximity to where they were captured. Those that have been re-measured after at least one year grew (on average) 2.5 cm per year. These results suggest that at least some of the hawksbills found in the study site may remain there for the duration of their sub-adult life- stage, which is likely to be around 15 years.  

Female sea turtles are famous for traveling long distances to return to their natal beach to nest.  This marvelous trait allows us to genetically “fingerprint” sea turtle populations due to subtle differences in DNA sequences that have developed between various regional sub-populations.  Since we know that the hawksbills of Palm Beach did not come from Florida (hawksbills don’t nest with any regularity here), we were curious about their origins, and by extension, their future destinations. Turns out, most hatched on the beaches of Mexico's Yucatan  

Peninsula, but some appear to have come from as afar    away as Brazil!