Nest site fidelity of leatherback turtles at Playa Grande, Costa Rica

The possibility of nest site fidelity of leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, raises concerns about the merit of translocating poorly located clutches to a safe hatchery. Specifically, if some females habitually nest in areas where the probability of egg survival is low because of tidal inundation, nest relocation may inadvertently select for turtles that make poor nest site selections. We investigate the nest site fidelity of leatherbacks by studying consecutive nest site selections by leatherbacks at Playa Grande, Costa Rica, from 1993 to 2001. Along the ocean-to-vegetation axis, consecutive nest placements were independent (G₄²=4.737, P=0.315). Regardless of previous zone choices, leatherbacks typically nested in the open beach above the high tide line and away from vegetation. Thus, concerns about translocation of poorly located nests are unfounded. Along the coastal axis, however, an independence model was rejected (G₃₆²=145.179, P<0.001). The log-linear model-based analysis we developed and applied indicated that the pattern of dependence in nest site locations is more consistent with a hypothesis of spatial proximity in which leatherbacks simply nest close to the site of the previous nest than it is with a hypothesis of intrinsic fidelity to a specific location on the beach. Our model-based approach is suitable for other settings where longitudinal nesting data are available.