Estimating long-term trends in abundance and survival for nesting flatback turtles in Kakadu National Park, Australia

A long-term study on nesting flatback turtles (Natator depressus) in Kakadu National Park, Australia, revealed stable population trends from 2002 to 2013. The research used capture-mark-recapture techniques and modeling (CJS and Horvitz-Thompson estimators) to estimate apparent survival at 97% annually, influenced by body size, and recapture probability at 38%, affected by climatic variability. The population size on Field Island ranged from 97 to 183 individuals, with no significant long-term decline observed. This study highlights the importance of understanding population dynamics for the conservation of at-risk marine turtle species in World Heritage Areas.

Groom, R., Griffiths, A., & Chaloupka, M. (2017). Estimating long-term trends in abundance and survival for nesting flatback turtles in Kakadu National Park, Australia. Endangered Species Research, 32, 203–211. https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00795