Tony Candela

Oceanographer, Marine Ecosystem Modeller @Mercator Ocean International

Région de Toulouse, FR

Collaboration between Mercator Ocean International and Upwell Turtles (NGO).Work on/with STAMM (Sea Turtle Active Movement Model), a dispersal model able to simulate the active dispersal of sea turtle hatchlings and then juveniles under the impact of oceanic currents and active swimming movement triggerd by the need to find food and stay in suitable water temperatures.Main mission :+ Contribution to the protection of sea turtles at sea, the ultimate goal of Upwell, contributing to the future developments of STAMM and realizing studies of direct interest to Upwell.Details :+ Run simulations of leatherback hatchlings dispersal from index and secondary nesting beaches in the Western Atlantic, including Costa Rica (e.g. Pacuare), Florida (e.g. Juno Beach), Panama (e.g. Chiriqui Beach) and Colombia (e.g. Gulf of Uraba) using STAMM. Products will include dispersal maps, animations, density map of turtle days in grid cells and written analyses.+ Apply STAMM to the Eastern Pacific leatherback population, simulating dispersal of juveniles (from hatchling through first reproductive migration) from index and secondary beaches in Mexico (e.g. Mexiquillo, Tierra la Colorada, Barra de la Cruz, Todos Santos), Costa Rica (Playa Grande, Playa Carate), Nicaragua (Playa Chacocente) and Panama (Cañas Island and Coiba Island). Comparison of simulation results with adult tracking data and bycatch and/or stranding data.+ Contribute to the development of STAMM including habitat depend growth and examinating fesability of controlling transition to adult stage enrgy budget or fitness budget. The ultimate goal is to make STAMM evolve towards a complete spatially-explicit sea turtle population dynamics model.