Abstract:

Incrementally formed biological tissues can provide an archive of biochemical information pertaining to the life histories of organisms. In order to estimate the time periods represented by such data, the growth rates of incremental tissues must be known. In order to establish the growth rates of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) and loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) scute keratin, we obtained 154 bomb radiocarbon measurements from the sequentially sampled scute biopsies of 32 individuals who stranded along the coasts of Florida between 2019-2022. Using a Bayesian depositional modelling approach and a local radiocarbon reference series compiled using measurements from known-age corals and otoliths, we reconstructed scute growth rates for each individual. This dataset provides the unmodelled, sequential radiocarbon data for each individual and accompanying details regarding stranding location, date and carapace length.