Makala has Reached the Great Barrier Reef

8/3/2023

It has been over a month now since I last updated Makala activities.  As it turns out, she has remained in the same home range area.  Below is her track up to 8/1/23.

5/28/2023

Makala has remained in her home range habitat on the southern Great Barrier Reef.  The video below highlights Makala's movements during the time period from 4/2/2023 to 5/26/2023.  The trajectories are depicted as straight lines although the turtle actual tracks are usually anything but straight.  After trajectory animation, I have calculated the kernel density utilization distributions for 95% and 50% utilization.  This calculation means that statistically one could expect to find Makala within the boarder of the larger area 95% of the time and within the smaller area 50% of the time.  These areas are quite small and indicates that there is sufficient food for Makala within that small area (95% KUD area = 0.56 sq. km, & 50% KUD area = 0.07 sq. km).

The video shows Makala;s trajectory from 4/2/23 to 4/26/23 and the 95% and 50% area of habitat utilization (KUD).

4/29/2023

Below is an animation of Makals's track on her home forage grounds as of 4/29/2023.  She seems to have a couple of places where she returns to rest each night.  It is a very small core area and the whole range of her travels is not very large.

4/19/2023

Makala is staying in the same vacinity of the Southern Great Barrier Reef that she reached on 4/2/23.  

Below is an image of the locations transmitted (circle / dots).  The gray area is the 95% kernel density utilization- an area where she could be expected to be found 95% of the time.  The area is slightly more than 0,5 sq km. 

The location fixes for Makala are the yellow circle with the black dot in the middle and the gray area represents the 95% kernel density utilization calculated based on those locations.

3/27/2023

Makala has reached the southern Great Barrier Reef area and is meandering northwards.  I don't think she has reached her home forage grounds yet but we will need to wait and see how she behaves.  We are hoping that the tag will last long enough for use to determine the size of her home range.

Below is the latest (as of 4/1/23)  track for Makala on the GBR.