ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Megafauna
This article is part of the Research TopicPopulation Structure and Connectivity of Marine Turtles in the Pacific and Indian OceansView all 18 articles
Connectivity among leatherback turtle populations in the Indian Ocean and West Pacific: A new Management Unit proposed in Sumatra, Indonesia
Provisionally accepted
Maslim As-singkily1,2,3,4*
Peter H. Dutton5
Venus van Hoof2Meriussoni Zai6Murniadi Murniadi7
Reindert Nijland2Leontine E. Becking3,4*- 1IUCN Species Survival Commission Indonesia Species Specialist Group, Bogor, Indonesia
- 2Wageningen University & Research Leerstoelgroep Mariene Dierecologie, Wageningen, Netherlands
- 3Wageningen University & Research Leerstoelgroep Aquacultuur en Visserij, Wageningen, Netherlands
- 4Marine Evolution and Ecology Group, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, Leiden, Netherlands
- 5Marine Mammal and Turtle Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, La Jolla, CA, San Diego, United States
- 6Yayasan Penyu Indonesia, Denpasar, Indonesia
- 7Aroen Meubanja, Panga, Indonesia
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Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are highly migratory and globally distributed, yet exhibit low overall genetic diversity. Currently, the species is divided into seven Regional Management Units (RMUs), and significant gaps remain in understanding genetic connectivity within the Indo-Pacific, particularly the Northeast Indian Ocean. Here, we investigate the genetic diversity and population structure of leatherback turtles sampled from five nesting sites in Sumatra, Indonesia. Using mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences from 57 individuals, we identified eight haplotypes, including one novel variant, with Sumatra exhibiting the highest haplotype (h = 0.754) and nucleotide diversity (π = 0.0041) among regional rookeries. There was a lack of significant stock structure based on our haplotype frequency data among rookeries in Sumatra (p>0.05). Phylogenetic and haplotype network analyses revealed that Sumatra contains lineages from both Indian and West Pacific Ocean clades, suggesting its role as a genetic bridge between these populations. Our results on population genetic structure support the recognition of Sumatra as a distinct Management Unit (MU), separate from other Northeast Indian Ocean populations. Our findings highlight the need to refine existing RMU boundaries and prioritise conservation actions in Sumatra to preserve its unique genetic composition and enhance connectivity across the Indo-Pacific.
Keywords: genetic diversity, population structure, haplotype, conservation, mtDNA
Received: 04 Sep 2025; Accepted: 12 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 As-singkily, Dutton, van Hoof, Zai, Murniadi, Nijland and Becking. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Maslim As-singkily, maslim.maslim@wur.nl
Leontine E. Becking, lisa.becking@naturalis.nl
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