A Review of Patterns of Multiple Paternity Across Sea Turtle Rookeries

What is it about?

Across 30 rookeries, including all 7 species of sea turtle, the incidence of multiple paternity was only weakly linked to rookery size (r2=0.14). However, once the extent of adult movements in the breeding season was considered (from GPS tracking data) so that movements and abundance could be combined to produce a measure of density, then across rookeries we found a very tight relationship (r2=0.96) between packing density and the incidence of multiple paternity.

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Why is it important?

These findings suggest that multiple paternity in sea turtles may have no benefit, but is simply a consequence of the incidence of male–female encounters.