Developmental and feeding/foraging habitats/areas#
Description#
Areas/habitats important for the developmental life stages of a species and/or for the provision of food/prey.
From Meylan et al. (2011) in the context of sea turtle ecology and migrations :
“Archie Carr (1956) brought many important ideas to the study of sea turtle biology, including the concept of ‘‘developmental habitat.’’
This term has frequently been applied to the portion of the lifecycle between the epipelagic stage that follows hatching (the lost year or lost years, or oceanic phase of Bolten, 2003) and the occupation of an adult foraging range. The idea of a separate, immature-dominated, benthic life history stage originates from the work of Carr and Caldwell (1956) on green turtles (Chelonia mydas) at Cedar Key, Florida.
In that study, the authors concluded, ‘‘Florida green turtles come in on this current [the Loop Current], perhaps growing to the approximately 10-pound minimum size for Florida specimens on the way, and then exploit the local feeding resources, attain a size and strength that would permit a return to tropical waters by some other route.’’