TARTACare Calabria: monitoring and conservation of the loggerhead turtle nesting activity along the Ionian coast of Calabria (Southern Italy)

A project of Islameta Group, Dept. of Biology - University of Pisa in conjunction with the partners and sponsors detailed below.

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Introduction

The Southern Ionian coast of Calabria is currently recognized as the main nesting ground for loggerhead turtles in Italy, accounting for 70% of the total nesting events which were documented nationwide over the last six years (2003-2008). This finding arose from a research project (TARTACare Calabria) initiated by the Dept. of Ecology of Calabria University (Rende, Italy) in summer 2000. This project mainly aims at nest monitoring and protecting, but also has additional objectives such as estimating of nesting population, genetic analysis, beach characterization, definition of type and entity of threats to nesting derived from human impact (including fishing impact). Satellite tracking of nesting females has also been attempted to track the post-nesting migrations and to ultimately identify the so far unknown foraging areas of the turtles nesting on the Ionian coast.

Zeffiria and Esperia are the first two turtles nesting in Italy that are being tracked by satellite during their post-nesting migrations.

Project Partners

The overall TARTAcare project of the Dept. of Ecology, Calabria University is a collaboration with: Islameta Group, University of Pisa (satellite tracking), University of Rome Tor Vergata (genetic analysis), University of Florence (beach characterization), Stazione Zoologica A. Dohrn, Naples (tagging), and WWF Italia and FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) for nest protection and public awareness campaigns

Project Sponsors

The project is authorized by the Ministry of Environment (Direzione Protezione della Natura). The main financial supports to the project were provided through the years by the Italian Ministry of Environment and of University and Research, and the Calabrian regional government (Assessorato alle Politiche dell’Ambiente)

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7739844