The Relationship between the Number of Breaths and Diving Profile of a Nesting Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas

Abstract

In this study, the relationship between dive duration, activity level during the dive and the number of breaths during post-dive surface duration of one free-ranging nesting green turtle, Chelonia mydas, was examined using two acceleration data loggers. Breathing was extracted from the static acceleration and depth data of the head-mounted data logger. The overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA), which has been used as an index of activity levels per unit time of a dive, was calculated from tri-axis dynamic acceleration data of the carapace-attached data logger. The number of breaths during post-dive surface duration divided by ODBA significantly increased with longer dive duration. The number of breaths during post-dive surface duration divided by dive duration significantly increased with larger ODBA during a dive. The results suggest that the number of breaths was regulated by dive duration and activity level during a dive.