Navegando por Autor "Bellini, C."

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Artigo
Effectiveness and design of marine protected areas for migratory species of conservation concern: A case study of post-nesting hawksbill turtles in Brazil
(Elsevier, 2021-06-21) Armando J.B., Santos; Bellini, C.; Santos, E.A.P.; Sales, G.; Ramos, R.; Vieira, D.H.G.; Marcovaldi, M. A.; Gillisf, Anthony; Wildermann, N.; Millsi, M.; Gandra, T.; Fuentes, M.M.P.B.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are among the most widely used strategy to protect marine ecosystems and are typically designed to protect specific habitats rather than a single and/or multiple species. To inform the con servation of species of conservation concern there is the need to assess whether existing and proposed MPA designs provide protection to these species. For this, information on species spatial distribution and exposure to threats is necessary. However, this information if often lacking, particularly for mobile migratory species, such as marine turtles. To highlight the importance of this information when designing MPAs and for assessments of their effectiveness, we identified high use areas of post-nesting hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) in Brazil as a case study and assessed the effectiveness of Brazilian MPAs to protect important habitat for this group based on exposure to threats. Most (88%) of high use areas were found to be exposed to threats (78% to artisanal fishery and 76.7% to marine traffic), where 88.1% were not protected by MPAs, for which 86% are exposed to threats. This mismatch is driven by a lack of explicit conservation goals and targets for turtles in MPA management plans, limited spatial information on species' distribution and threats, and a mismatch in the scale of conservation initiatives. To inform future assessments and design of MPAs for species of conservation concern we suggest that managers: clearly state and make their goals and targets tangible, consider ecological scales instead of political boundaries, and use adaptative management as new information become available.
Artigo
Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting on Atol das Rocas, north-eastern Brazil, 1990–2008
(2012-04-25) Bellini, C.; Santos, A.J.B; Grossman, A.; Barata, P.C.R.; Marcovaldi, M.A.
In this paper, information is presented on green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting on Atol das Rocas (Rocas Atoll), north eastern Brazil. The temporal distribution of nesting events per season, annual number of nests, carapace length of nesting females, clutch size, hatching success, incubation period, internesting interval, clutch frequency, observed reproductive life span, and remigration period are reported. The study period included the nesting seasons from 1990 to 2008, but no regular beach monitoring was carried out in 1998 and 1999. Two sorts of methods were applied to the estimation of the annual number of nests in some seasons. Taking into account the estimated annual numbers of nests, the mean annual number of nests in the study period, excluding 1998–1999, was 335 (standard deviation ¼ 139, range ¼ 136–563, N ¼ 17). An analysis of the available data indicates that the average nesting levels at the beginning of the study period (the first five seasons) and at its end (the last five seasons) were roughly the same. The mean curved carapace length of the nesting turtles decreased significantly during the study period, from 115.9 cm in 1990–1992 to 112.9 cm in 2006 –2008. Atol das Rocas was established as a federal biological reserve in 1979, but regular sea turtle conservation activities actually started there in 1990. Since that year, the killing of nesting turtles has ceased, nesting activity by the turtles can proceed in an undisturbed fashion, and their clutches can incubate in a protected environment.
Artigo
The Interplay of Homing and Dispersal in Green Turtles
(2012-10-08) Naro-Maciel, E.; Bondioli, Ana Cristina Vigliar; Martin, Meredith; Almeida, A. P.; Baptistotte, C.; Bellini, C.; Marcovaldi, M. A.; Santos, A. J. B.; Amato, G.
Current understanding of spatial ecology is insufficient in many threatened marine species, failing to provide a solid basis for conservation and management. To address this issue for globally endangered green turtles, we investigated their population distribution by sequencing a mitochondrial control region segment from the Rocas Atoll courtship area (n = 30 males) and four feeding grounds (FGs) in Brazil (n = 397), and compared our findings to published data (nnesting = 1205; nfeeding = 1587). At Rocas Atoll, the first Atlantic courtship area sequenced to date, we found males were differentiated from local juveniles but not from nesting females. In combination with tag data, this indicates possible male philopatry. The most common haplotypes detected at the study sites were CMA-08 and CMA-05, and significant temporal variation was not revealed. Although feeding grounds were differentiated overall, intra-regional structure was less pronounced. Ascension was the primary natal source of the study FGs, with Surinam and Trindade as secondary sources. The study clarified the primary connectivity between Trindade and Brazil. Possible linkages to African populations were considered, but there was insufficient resolution to con clusively determine this connection. The distribution of FG haplotype lineages was nonrandom and indicative of regional clustering. The study investigated impacts of population size, geographic distance, ocean currents, and juvenile natal homing on connectivity, addressed calls for increased genetic sampling in the southwestern Atlantic, and provided data important for conservation of globally endangered green turtles.