Ecology Summary - Lepidochelys olivacea

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Ecology of Lepidochelys olivacea

Main Ref.	Schneider, W., 1990
Remarks	Shallow coastal waters; open sea forming schools (Ref. 417). Habitat is a warm vertically stratified water with deep thermocline (Ref. 78527). Observed to be basking on sand beaches (Ref. 1397). Nesting patterns range from solitary to small groups to arribadas (Ref. 97534). Little information exists on the feeding behavior of post-hatchlings and juveniles in pelagic waters, but they are most likely exclusively carnivorous, consuming, for instance, invertebrates and fish eggs. Older juveniles and adults feed on a wide variety of benthic organisms (Ref. 122680).

Main Ref.

Schneider, W., 1990

Remarks

Shallow coastal waters; open sea forming schools (Ref. 417). Habitat is a warm vertically stratified water with deep thermocline (Ref. 78527). Observed to be basking on sand beaches (Ref. 1397). Nesting patterns range from solitary to small groups to arribadas (Ref. 97534). Little information exists on the feeding behavior of post-hatchlings and juveniles in pelagic waters, but they are most likely exclusively carnivorous, consuming, for instance, invertebrates and fish eggs. Older juveniles and adults feed on a wide variety of benthic organisms (Ref. 122680).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Lepidochelys olivacea may be found.

Habitat

Substrate	Benthic: demersal; Pelagic; Soft Bottom: sand;
Substrate Ref.	Sasa, M., G.A. Chaves and L.D. Patrick, 2009
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Pfaller, J.B., A.N. Palau, P.D. Agamboué, M. Barret, S. Ciccione, G. Cliff, A. Formia, J.C. Manfoumbi, A. Marco, G.-P. Sounguet and A.D. Tucker, 2019
Associations	commensalism;
Associated with	Planes minutus.
Association remarks	Basiobiont of Planes minutus.
Parasitism

feeding

Feeding type	plants/detritus+animals (troph. 2.2-2.79)
Feeding type Ref.	Polovina, J.J., G.H. Balazs, E.A. Howell, D.M. Parker, M.P. Seki and P.H. Dutton, 2004
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Polovina, J.J., G.H. Balazs, E.A. Howell, D.M. Parker, M.P. Seki and P.H. Dutton, 2004

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	original sample		unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	3.65	0.32			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

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Aquatic zones / Water bodies

Habitat

Associations

feeding

Trophic Level(s)