Ecologia alimentar da tartaruga verde, Chelonia mydas, na Área de Proteção Ambiental Costa dos Corais

Abstract

The understanding of food ecology is directly linked to the survival, growth, and reproduction rates of green turtles, being of great importance for conservation. This work evaluated aspects of the feeding ecology of green turtles, Chelonia mydas, and the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic factors on variations in diet composition. Stomach contents (n = 34) were analyzed of immature turtles, comprising 16 juveniles and 18 sub-adults. The diet was predominantly herbivorous, mainly composed of macroalgae. Red algae were predominant, with high relative frequency of the genera Gelidium and Gelidiella; followed by marine angiosperm Halodule. The diet of juvenile and sub-adult turtles was highly overlapping, but a small group of juveniles appeared to have a specialized diet in marine angiosperms. The analyses of variance revealed that the diet composition of of turtles in the APACC were not influenced by any factor analyzed, suggesting that there was no spatiotemporal variation.