Sea Turtle Biogeography of Southeast Asia

The following maps display available nesting and satellite telemetry data for sea turtles in Southeast Asia and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, featured as part of a special feature article in SWOT Report, vol. 19.

The data include 642 nesting sites and 234 satellite tags representing greens, hawksbills, leatherbacks, and olive ridleys (note that historical records of loggerhead nesting in the region exist, but recent nesting could not be confirmed, so they were excluded from the maps). Data were compiled through a literature review or were provided directly to SWOT by hundreds of data contributors which can be seen in the map or by downloading the citations. 

We are thankful to the hundreds of data providers who contributed to this effort.

Sea Turtle Nesting in Southeast Asia

Nesting sites are represented by dots colored by species and scaled according to their relative nesting abundance in the most recent year for which data are available. For uniformity, all types of nesting counts (e.g., number of nesting females, number of crawls) were converted to number of clutches as needed. Conversion factors ranged from 2.2 to 5.0 clutches per female and 0.55 to 0.81 crawls per clutch. Metadata and references can be seen by hovering over the nesting sites.

Sea Turtle Satellite Telemetry in Southeast Asia

The satellite telemetry map presents data from green, leatherback, hawksbill, and olive ridley turtles and represents more than 47,000 animal locations. Telemetry data citations and providers can be downloaded here.