Christine Figgener | Texas A&M University (original) (raw)

Papers by Christine Figgener

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

The effective conservation of highly migratory marine species is only possible if core areas of a... more The effective conservation of highly migratory marine species is only possible if core areas of activity and critical habitat can be identified within the vast and dynamic oceanic environment and later on used to delineate marine protected areas (MPAs). However, gathering population-level data and identifying universal patterns within a species or population can be difficult when only a small sample size exists and individuals are not ecologically interchangeable. In addition, the open ocean beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of a country is considered the high-seas and is not part of any jurisdiction and therefore challenging to govern by laws. Granting protection to species using these waters is sometimes virtually impossible. Another challenge is the dynamic nature of the oceanic environment. MPAs are usually based on spatially explicit and static areas, but migratory routes can shift following available food, currents, and temperatures or else, potentially rendering design...

ABSTRACT Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) aggregate in winter breeding and calving ground... more ABSTRACT Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) aggregate in winter breeding and calving grounds along continental margins, coastal islands, or archipelagos located in tropical waters. Migration to these breeding sites requires a long journey from northern feeding areas in temperate and circumpolar latitudes. The humpback whales habitat preference is generally restricted to coastal areas, and their tendency to concentrate in specific locations to reproduce exposes them to anthropogenic threats such as fishing, coastal development, water pollution, and marine traffic. There has been an increasing interest for coastal development projects that intent to capitalize the natural attributes of Golfo Dulce, in the southern Pacific coast of Costa Rica, potentially threatening the stability of the ecosystem and creating habitat disruption for the wintering population of humpback whales in the area. This contributions focalize in important ecological aspect related with areas use, particularly behavioral elements associated with the spatial aggregation of competitive groups, mother – calf pairs and vocalizing humpback whales. We identify areas with significant aggregation of mother-calf pairs that can be categorized as critical nursing areas, producing key baseline information to promote effective conservation and management strategies such as Marine Spatial Planning.

In this study microsatellite analyses were used to investigate whether female Leatherback turtles... more In this study microsatellite analyses were used to investigate whether female Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) of the nesting-population in the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (REGAMA), Costa Rica mate polyandrously or monogamously, by examining the paternal lineages in the nests (n=35) deposited by females (n=18) in Playa Gandoca. A total of five loci were initially used to reconstruct the genotypes of nesting females and their offspring. Loci were amplified by PCR using fluorescent dye-labeled primers analysed on a LiCor automated sequencer with SAGA2. Paternal genotypes were inferred by comparing the known offspring and known maternal genotypes. Four out of 18 families (mothers with their offspring) showed extra paternal lineages, which were assumed to have derived from multiple matings. Furthermore the genetic baseline of the nesting-population was evaluated, the genetic diversity was estimated and the present gene pool was compared to the gene pool approximately 10-15 years ago.

113 studies using stable isotope analysis in marine turtles reviewed and summarized in a Comprehe... more 113 studies using stable isotope analysis in marine turtles reviewed and summarized in a Comprehensive Data Table as .xlsx file. Summary of studies reviewed employing stable isotope analysis (SIA) of δ13C and/or δ15N to investigate different aspects of marine turtle trophic ecology, sometimes combined SIA with satellite tracking. Table summarizes for each study: the study region, life stages surveyed, sample sizes, tissues used for SIA, major findings and reference. Studies are organized by marine turtle species > ocean basin. Juveniles and subadult stages were usually sampled in foraging areas if not indicated otherwise. The study categories A-D & M refer to a hierarchical concept model introduced in Figgener, Bernardo and Plotkin (2018) (manuscript in preparation); M indicates method papers. References marked with S indicate studies that have supplementary data available online, with * indicate studies included in the quantitative dataset. Abbreviations: SI=Stable Isotope, RBCs=red blood cells, CCL=curved carapace length, SCL=straight carapace length, SCW=straight carapace width, BM=body mass, TP=trophic position, GoM=Gulf of Mexico, AA-CSIA=Amino Acid – Compound Specific Isotope Analysis, EAA=Essential Amino Acid, Cc=Caretta caretta, Cm=Chelonia mydas, Dc=Dermochelys coriacea, Ei=Eretmochelys imbricata, Lk=Lepidochelys kempii, Lo=Lepidochelys olivacea, Nd=Natator depressu

Raw Data drawn from either original data supplements or extracted from figures using PlotDigitize... more Raw Data drawn from either original data supplements or extracted from figures using PlotDigitizer used to generate estimates for the Subsidiary Quantitative Dataset compiled in a single excel file

50 studies yielding 91 records of mean stable isotope values of adult marine turtles in different... more 50 studies yielding 91 records of mean stable isotope values of adult marine turtles in different ocean basins compiled in a Subsidiary Quantitative Dataset. xlsx file format

Complete List of stable isotope studies (n=130) of marine turtles compiled through November 2018

Revista De Biologia Tropical, 2015

Diversity of cetaceans in coastal seascape Golfo Dulce, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. Golfo Dulce is... more Diversity of cetaceans in coastal seascape Golfo Dulce, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica. Golfo Dulce is a fiord-lilke embayment located in the southern Pacific of Costa Rica, this coastal-marine ecosystem harbors an important wealth in marine biodiversity, including cetaceans. In this study we describe the cetacean commu- nity of Golfo Dulce, in relation to the diversity of habitats constituting the seascape. Sighting data collected in periodic systematic surveys has yielded 943 records (2005-2014≈3 490h≈64 533km), of 12 species of cetaceans. A gradient of cetacean diversity is observed from the inner basin to the transitional-oceanic area at the entrance of the Gulf, with coastal bottlenose dolphin and spotted dolphin dominating the inner basin, and bottlenose dolphins and migratory humpback whales the sill area. Transitional oceanic habitat holds the greatest species diversity dominated by oceanic species, particularly piscivorous delphinids, including the off-shore form of bottlenose d...

Revista de Biología Tropical, 2016

El tiburón ballena (Rhincodon typus), es el condrictio viviente más grande del mundo, con una dis... more El tiburón ballena (Rhincodon typus), es el condrictio viviente más grande del mundo, con una distribución cosmopolita, encontrándose tanto en mares tropicales como subtropicales. La Unión Mundial para la Conservación (IUCN) lo clasifico como vulnerable y con una tendencia poblacional en disminución, conocido por realizar grandes agregaciones alrededor del mundo, relacionadas a procesos oceanográficos que incrementan la productividad primaria del ambiente marino. Por primera vez, se reporta cuatro eventos de alimentación de tiburón ballena dentro de la cuenca interna de Golfo Dulce, un fiordo tropical ubicado en la costa del Pacífico Sur de Costa Rica. Los avistamientos fueron realizados en enero y agosto del 2009, marzo 2012 y enero del 2013, donde la estructura y tamaño de los grupos se mantuvo constante en el tiempo encontrándose una proporción similar de adultos y juveniles. Estas agregaciones fueron observadas en la costa occidental de Golfo Dulce en un área que abarcaba los 23...

Authorea

Turtles have been prominent subjects of analyses of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) owing to their m... more Turtles have been prominent subjects of analyses of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) owing to their mating system and habitat diversity. In prior studies, marine turtles were grouped with non-marine aquatic turtles (NMAT). This is odd because it is well-established that the marine environment imposes a distinct selective milieu on body form of vagile vertebrates, driven by convergent adaptations for energy-efficient propulsion and drag reduction. We generated a comprehensive database of adult marine turtle body size (38,569 observations across all species), which we then used to evaluate both the magnitude of SSD in marine turtles and how it compares to SSD in NMAT. We find that marine turtles are not sexually size dimorphic, whereas NMAT typically exhibit female-biased SSD. We argue that the reason for this difference is the sustained long-distance swimming that characterises marine turtle ecology, which entails significant energetic costs incurred by both sexes. Hence, the ability of either sex to allocate proportionately more to growth than the other is likely constrained, meaning that sexual differences in growth and resultant body size are not possible. Consequently, lumping marine turtles with NMAT dilutes the statistical signature of different kinds of selection on SSD and should be avoided in future studies.

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2017

The epibionts of marine megafauna can serve as valuable indicators of the host's health or behavi... more The epibionts of marine megafauna can serve as valuable indicators of the host's health or behaviour; however, only a few studies have attempted to determine how and why epibiont communities vary between host individuals, populations, or even species. Further complicating efforts to compare epibiont communities of marine megafaunas is that measures of epibiont abundance and diversity may be influenced by the sampling methods and timing of the assessment. Here, we examined how host gender, geographic location, and sampling year affect measures of epibiont community structure in olive ridley sea turtles, Lepidochelys olivacea, in the East Pacific Ocean. To achieve this, we identified, enumerated, and then statistically compared the epibiont communities of (1) nesting female turtles sampled over different nesting seasons, (2) female turtles sampled on nesting beaches and at sea, and (3) female and male turtles, both sampled at sea. We did not discover statistically significant differences between the epibiont communities of nesting female turtles sampled on different years nor between females sampled on nesting beaches and at sea. However, we did observe a statistically significant difference between the epibiont communities of female and male turtles. Thus, we conclude that while sampling epibionts from nesting sea turtles may be an accurately and more logistically straightforward method than sampling turtle at sea, it should not be assumed that epibiont communities of male and female hosts are identical. We also suggest that knowledge of the factors that drive intra-specific variation in the epibiont communities of marine megafauna, be it biological or methodological factors, is necessary before broader-scale meta-analyses are made to determine spatial and temporal patterns in the distribution of epibiont communities worldwide.

Scientific Data, 2019

Marine turtles are both flagship species of conservation concern and indicators of ocean health. ... more Marine turtles are both flagship species of conservation concern and indicators of ocean health. As highly migratory species, and despite substantial research effort focusing on nesting females and satellite tagging studies, we still know little about the trophic ecology and habitat use of immature stages and males. Consequently, marine turtle biologists began using stable isotope analyses in the last decade to elucidate various aspects of trophic ecology, including habitat use and trophic position. This has resulted in a burgeoning but largely disconnected literature of mostly single-species case studies. Here we comprehensively synthesize this body of work into a unified data repository, the MarTurtSI database. MarTurtSI contains stable isotope data from six of seven marine turtle species ranging from juveniles to adults, in different developmental, feeding, and breeding habitats across multiple ocean basins. MarTurtSI will be curated and updated with the aim of enabling continued comprehensive and global investigations into the trophic ecology of marine turtles especially in the face of climate change and other conservation challenges.

Nature, 2018

What I learnt pulling a straw out of a turtle's nose When my video went viral, I found that commu... more What I learnt pulling a straw out of a turtle's nose When my video went viral, I found that communicating to non-scientists is uncomfortable-and effective, says Christine Figgener. T hree years ago, I uploaded a video of a sea turtle in distress. While collecting data for my PhD off the coast of Costa Rica, my team decided to remove what looked to be a barnacle encrusted in the nostril of the turtle, which we had captured for a research study. The object turned out to be a 10-centimetre section of a disposable plastic drinking straw. We filmed the process. That upsetting video (see go.nature.com/2qfci6f) has now had more than 33 million views, and became an emblem of the anti-straw movement. It also thrust me into a world of high-profile advocacy I never expected to enter. I became involved in a documentary project, and community activists who were launching plastic-free campaigns asked for my support; I've gone to schools, conferences and screenings to talk about a subject that is not my main research focus. Last month, to my surprise, Time named me a 2018 Next Generation Leader, alongside celebrities such as Ariana Grande and Hasan Minhaj. All this has taught me that communicating beyond academia is worth trying, but it demands constant vigilance and caution. I always have to remind non-scientists that my video is, of course, not the first documentation of how plastic harms marine wildlife. A legion of scientific articles does exactly that. But, for many, it takes videos such as mine to make these articles less abstract. I' d spent years making videos that I hoped would encourage conservation by showing the beauty of nature. They had little effect compared with my video of a bleeding turtle and a spontaneous anti-straw tirade. Many scientists shy away from the pressor from uploading videos that show emotion, especially anger and frustration. We fear the simplification and inaccuracies likely to be introduced into accounts of our research, which could cause us to lose credibility with peers and funders. Yet, these routes might be the most effective way of getting information to policymakers and citizens, and so promoting conservation. This year, companies including Alaska Airlines, Disney and Starbucks announced programmes to phase out plastic straws. Seattle, Washington, and San Francisco, California, among other cities, have moved to ban or limit them. Of course, straws are just a tiny fraction of the plastics in the ocean. (Roughly, they make up less than 0.03% of the more than 8 million tonnes of plastic waste, largely consumer trash and fishing nets, that makes its way to the ocean every year, mainly from middle-income countries.) I take care to explain that the straw is emblematic of unnecessary plastic items and how human activity harms oceans. The message is getting through. Last week, the European Union moved to prohibit several single-use plastics, including plates and cutlery. Activists need scientists' input. When you're trying to preserve species effectively and have limited funds, you need to know which HOPED TO HELP.

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2016

Sea turtles in general are promiscuous breeders, but previous leatherback paternity studies found... more Sea turtles in general are promiscuous breeders, but previous leatherback paternity studies found only a very low level of multiple paternity or none at all. Three highly polymorphic microsatellite markers (Dc99, Cc117, and Ei8) were used to investigate the paternity of a recovering population of leatherback turtles nesting at Playa Gandoca in Costa Rica, which is part of the Atlantic Costa Rican leatherback nesting population. The aim of this study was to (i) detect multiple paternity, (ii) compare the results to previous studies in the same and different nesting populations, (iii) consider the possibility of sperm storage, (iv) explore the possibility of successful inter-nesting mating taking place, and (v) determine the effect of small population size on mating patterns. Tissue samples from females and hatchlings were collected from one to three consecutive clutches (35 clutches total) of 18 nesting females included in the assay with an average sampling effort of 21.91% of offspring per clutch. Evidence of multiple paternity was found in four out of 18 females (22.22%), which had mated with two to three different males. The results from this study indicate that multiple paternity is more common than previously observed for the Atlantic Costa Rican leatherback nesting population. The analyses of successive clutches from the multiply mated females showed that paternal contribution varies between successive clutches and "new" fathers in consecutive clutches suggest the possibility of successful inter-nesting mating.

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

Complete List of stable isotope studies (n=130) of marine turtles compiled through November 2018

Revista De Biologia Tropical, 2015

Revista de Biología Tropical, 2016

Authorea

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2017

Scientific Data, 2019

Nature, 2018

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 2016

In this study microsatellite analyses were used to investigate whether female Leatherback turtles... more In this study microsatellite analyses were used to investigate whether female Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) of the nesting-population in the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge (REGAMA), Costa Rica mate polyandrously or monogamously, by examining the paternal lineages in the nests (n=35) deposited by females (n=18) in Playa Gandoca.
A total of five loci were initially used to reconstruct the genotypes of nesting females and their offspring. Loci were amplified by PCR using fluorescent dye-labeled primers analysed on a LiCor automated sequencer with SAGA2. Paternal genotypes were inferred by comparing the known offspring and known maternal genotypes.
Four out of 18 families (mothers with their offspring) showed extra paternal lineages, which were assumed to have derived from multiple matings.
Furthermore the genetic baseline of the nesting-population was evaluated, the genetic diversity was estimated and the present gene pool was compared to the gene pool approximately 10-15 years ago.