Nest selection of Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) in Shibderaz Qeshm Island looking into slope

Sea turtles are considered of the critically endangered (CR) reptiles in the world. Several threaten factors affect the survival and regeneration of these species. Therefore, to support their survival, identification and management of factors which affect reptiles nesting are inevitable. Sea turtles spend one of the critical stages of their life, hatchery period, at the beaches, so identification of nesting sites and the factors influenced their hatching plays an important role for conserving these endangered species. Previous studies showed that slope, grain size, sediment temperature, shore vegetation and some of human manipulation is effective in nest location of these sea turtles. In this study slope, in the nest locations of Eretmochelys imbricata in Shib-deraz area (Shib-deraz habitat and shib- pavi) of the south Qeshm Island was investigated. This study was done in nesting season in 1391 along the 1/5 km from the sandy beach area. Suntu inclinometer was employed to measure the nest slopes, 32 nest locations from high water mark to the nests. Results showed that 37.34 % of sea turtles choose the slope class of 2-4 degree for the nest investment in this area.