Implication for the conservation
The green turtle population of Tetiaroa shows a significant level of relatedness and inbreeding, with no clear inbreeding avoidance strategy and an apparent preference for related partners that rather favour it. This indicates that the reproductive system of green turtles makes them intrinsically vulnerable to inbreeding and its potential negative consequences on the capacity of a population to maintain itself through generations. Although it does not seem to affect the fitness of Tetiaroa’s population at this stage, it could have negative effects if the number of breeders is not maintained, which highlights the importance of turtle conservation programs. On Tetiaroa, a conservation and monitoring program has been in place since 2007, and an increasing number of breeders has been recorded on the island, indicating that it is likely efficient and can preserve the genetic diversity of this population (Touron et al., 2018). Finally, unexpected plasticity in green turtle mating behaviours and nesting parameters shows some adaptive capacity which may help maintain the population’s resilience under changing environmental conditions.