Patterns of foraging in Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) Population on the East Coast of India and Habitat Characteristics of the Arribada Nesting Ground at Rushikulya

Abstract

This study was conducted and aimed to explore the patterns of spatial segregation of foraging olive ridley turtles which nest on two distinct nesting areas of the eastern coast of India; secondly, to examine the characteristics of mass nesting ground of Rushikulya; and lastly, to assess the status of microplastic presence in mass nesting ground. The study found that the moisture contents and sand particle size were homogenous across the beaches of Rushikulya. The sandbar had most extreme values for four of the five studied habitat characters which might be due to surrounding waters. Sea turtles those stranded during December to February at Chennai as well as Rushikulya seems to be from a similar type of foraging areas as their carbon isotope ratio were not different