False Crawl

Humans walk the beach at night, often with a white or red flashlight.  The impact of this on nesting females is unknown, and has not previously been addressed.  It is known that white light affects, and often turns away, gravid females.  Thus, humans with flashlights, and perhaps the mere presence of humans, may also turn away potential nesters.  The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect (and/or relationship) of humans walking on the beach at night upon the nest location and nesting success of the female loggerhead on Jekyll Island, GA.

Overall, the focus for this study is to investigate the impact of human presence on nest location and success of the loggerhead sea turtle on Jekyll Island, GA.  Another study will focus on the “Other Impacts to Include”.  This study will work with GIS technology to incorporate the variables with the nest location and success rates of loggerheads.  In addition, the location and frequency of false crawls will also be included.  It is the goal of this portion of the study to look at specific turtles and the areas where they lay individual nests and where they false crawl in relation to the variables listed above.