RNA content. Predictive power is therefore substantially improved by incorporating biochemical

indices into growth models.

 In the various growth models I tested, CI was repeatedly selected as an independent

variable with significant predictive power. Bjorndal et al. (2000) found a similar positive

correlation between condition index and recent growth rates in wild green turtles. These findings

are particularly interesting in light of criticisms of the use of ratio-based indices (Hayes and

Shonkwiler 2001) and suggest that, at least for green turtles, the use of "body condition" as

measured using Fulton's K (Ricker 1975) for predictive purposes is meaningful and appropriate.

 The growth model I developed fails to explain 32% of the variance in growth rates. A

portion of this unexplained variability probably results from fairly large coefficients of variation

for the biochemical assays I performed. This variation could potentially have been improved by

measuring DNA and RNA concentrations from the same subsamples of tissue, but the nucleic

acid isolation kits I used precluded me from doing so. Additionally, a number of nucleic acid

quantification techniques are available (Caldarone et al. 2006), and it is possible that one of these

techniques might have allowed for improved precision in measuring DNA and RNA content. The

remaining unexplained variability in growth rate may result from a mismatch in the time scales

over which the various indices in the model accurately detect changes in growth. As condition

index relies on measurement of body mass (a result of tissue accretion) and body length (a result

of bony growth), it most likely provides information about longer term growth processes than

nucleic acid and protein concentrations, which presumably fluctuate over shorter time scales

(Ferron and Leggett 1994).

 Because sacrificing wild green turtles to collect liver samples for measuring nucleic acid

concentrations is not an acceptable practice, the multivariate model that best predicted recent