Phylogeography, Genetic Diversity, and Management Units of Hawksbill Turtles in the Indo-Pacific

Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) exhibit complex phylogeographic patterns with weak isolation by distance and evidence of multiple colonization events, including transoceanic migration between the Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific rookeries. This study analyzed the most geographically comprehensive dataset of hawksbill turtles in the Indo-Pacific, sequencing 766 bp of the mitochondrial control region from 492 samples across 13 locations, revealing 52 haplotypes distributed in 5 divergent clades. Diversification times varied between Indo-Pacific and Atlantic lineages, potentially linked to sea-level changes during the Last Glacial Maximum. Demographic expansion signals were detected only in the Persian Gulf region, suggesting recent colonization. The findings propose eight management units for conservation planning, providing critical baseline data for mixed-stock analyses of feeding grounds in the Indo-Pacific.

Vargas, S. M., Jensen, M. P., Ho, S. Y. W., Mobaraki, A., Broderick, D., Mortimer, J. A., Whiting, S. D., Miller, J., Prince, R. I. T., Bell, I. P., Hoenner, X., Limpus, C. J., Santos, F. R., & FitzSimmons, N. N. (2015). Phylogeography, Genetic Diversity, and Management Units of Hawksbill Turtles in the Indo-Pacific. Journal of Heredity, 107(3), 199–213. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esv091