DOI: 10.5061/dryad.16q70
title: Data from: Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacts on sea turtles could span the Atlantic

description: We investigated the extent that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill
 potentially affected oceanic-stage sea turtles from populations across the
 Atlantic. Within an ocean-circulation model, particles were backtracked
 from the Gulf of Mexico spill site to determine the probability of young
 turtles arriving in this area from major nesting beaches. The abundance of
 turtles in the vicinity of the oil spill was derived by forward-tracking
 particles from focal beaches and integrating population size,
 oceanic-stage duration and stage-specific survival rates. Simulations
 indicated that 321 401 (66 199–397 864) green (Chelonia mydas), loggerhead
 (Caretta caretta) and Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) turtles
 were likely within the spill site. These predictions compared favourably
 with estimates from in-water observations recently made available to the
 public (though our initial predictions for Kemp's ridley were
 substantially lower than in-water estimates, better agreement was obtained
 with modifications to mimic behaviour of young Kemp's ridley turtles
 in the northern Gulf). Simulations predicted 75.2% (71.9–76.3%) of turtles
 came from Mexico, 14.8% (11–18%) from Costa Rica, 5.9% (4.8–7.9%) from
 countries in northern South America, 3.4% (2.4–3.5%) from the United
 States and 1.6% (0.6–2.0%) from West African countries. Thus, the
 spill's impacts may extend far beyond the current focus on the
 northern Gulf of Mexico.
description: Putman et al.
 Supplemental Tables - BLSupplemental Tables
 Description of Supplemental Excel Tables (names are different tabs within
 the Excel Workbook) Table S1. Connectivity. Table listing hatchling
 abundance, by species, for each nesting area and connectivity between
 those areas and the spill site. Percentage of particles backtracked from
 the spill site arriving from each of the nesting areas of green,
 loggerhead, and Kemp’s ridley turtles within a given year, scaled relative
 to the number of particles that encountered any nesting area during that
 same period. Table S2. Literature-Survival. Table of data used for
 estimating clutch size (number of eggs per nest), clutch survival, and
 oceanic survival. Table S3. Green (number). The number of each age class
 of surface-pelagic green turtles from each of the twenty-four nesting
 areas estimated to be at the spill site based on median, maximum, and
 minimum estimates of oceanic survival. Table S4. Loggerhead (number). The
 number of each age class of surface-pelagic loggerhead turtles from each
 of the eight nesting areas estimated to be at the spill site based on
 median, maximum, and minimum estimates oceanic survival. Table S5. Kemp’s
 ridley (number). The number of each age class of surface-pelagic Kemp’s
 ridley turtles from each of the four nesting areas estimated to be at the
 spill site based on median, maximum, and minimum estimates of oceanic
 survival. Table includes results for passive drift “retentive behavior”
 simulations. Table S6. Green (percent). The percentage of survivors of
 each age class of oceanic-stage green turtles from each nesting area
 estimated to be at the spill site. Table S7. Loggerhead (percent). The
 percentage of survivors of each age class of oceanic-stage loggerhead
 turtles from each nesting area estimated to be at the spill. Table S8.
 Kemp’s ridley (percent). The percentage of the total survivors of each age
 class of surface-pelagic Kemp’s ridley turtles from each nesting area
 estimated to be at the spill site. Table includes results for passive
 drift “retentive behavior” simulations.