Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chiyo Kitayama, Keiichi Ueda, Mariko Omata, Taketeru Tomita, Shingo Fukada, Shogo Murakami, Yoshiaki Tanaka, Akihiro Kaji, Satomi Kondo, Hiroyuki Suganuma, Yuki Aiko, Atsuru Fujimoto, Yusuke K. Kawai, Masashi Yanagawa, Daisuke Kondoh
Summary: The nasal cavities of hawksbill, olive ridley and black sea turtles share similar structures, but differ from leatherback sea turtles. The structural features of the nasal cavity of leatherback sea turtles may help suppress heat dissipation and reduce water pressure in cold and deep waters.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Vicente Olimon-Andalon, Jorge Valdes-Flores, Cesar Paul Ley-Quinonez, Alan A. Zavala-Norzagaray, A. Alonso Aguirre, Nidia Leon-Sicairos, Jorge Velazquez-Roman, Hector Flores-Villasenor, Erika Acosta-Smith, Igmar Sosa-Cornejo, Marco Valdez-Flores, Catherine Edwina Hart, Adrian Canizalez-Roman
Summary: Trace metals have been found in sea turtle blood and tissues, posing a threat to these endangered species. Essential trace metal concentrations in olive ridley turtles in Mexico showed higher levels of Zn and Cu compared to Cd and Pb, with low levels of As and Hg. Levels of Cd were relatively high compared to other sea turtle populations globally, and may pose the greatest risk to sea turtles in the Mexican Pacific.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Fadi Yaghmour, Marwa Al Bousi, Halima Al Naqbi, Fatin Samara, Thouraya Ghalayini
Summary: The study revealed that hawksbill sea turtles ingested marine debris at higher frequencies, with plastics being the most predominant type of debris ingested. However, metallic fishing gear posed lethal hazards for both turtle species.
MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN
(2021)
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Poommate Chomchat, Patcharaporn Kaewmong, Kaitkanoke Sirinarumitr, Koichiro Sera, Jun Noda, Theerapol Sirinarumitr
Summary: The study aimed to compare the element concentrations in the serum of stranded sea turtles from the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea. Results showed that the sea turtles from the Gulf of Thailand had higher concentrations of certain elements, while the sea turtles from the Andaman Sea had higher concentrations of other elements. The detection of specific elements may be related to industrial activities and can be used to assess pollution levels in marine ecosystems.
JOURNAL OF VETERINARY MEDICAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Luciano S. Soares, Karen A. Bjorndal, Alan B. Bonen, Marta L. Wayne, Jaqueline C. Castilhos, Marilda Weber, Milagros Lopez-Mendilaharsu, Maria A. Marcovaldi, Sibelle T. Vilaca, Eugenia Naro-Maciel
Summary: The study focused on sea turtle hybridization along the northeastern coast of Brazil, examining reproductive output, migration patterns, and isotopic niches to find similarities between hybrids and parental species in terms of reproductive, ecological, and behavioral characteristics.
ENDANGERED SPECIES RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Alexis Ferrera, Angela Formia, Claudio Ciofi, Chiara Natali, Andrews Agyekumhene, Phil Allman
Summary: Population genetic structure of nesting olive ridley turtles in two coastal communities in Ghana indicates potential utilization of different migration routes or breeding grounds, reflecting genetic differences between the populations.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
B. Gabriela Arango, David C. Ensminger, Diana Daniela Moreno-Santillan, Martha Harfush-Melendez, Elpidio Marcelino Lopez-Reyes, Jose Alejandro Marmolejo-Valencia, Horacio Merchant-Larios, Daniel E. Crocker, Jose Pablo Vazquez-Medina
Summary: This study found that olive ridley sea turtles exhibit different metabolic parameters and oxidative stress levels depending on their nesting modes. Arribada nesters were bigger and had higher levels of circulating thyroid hormone. Metabolic pathways related to phospholipid and amino acid metabolism, catabolic processes, and antioxidant defense were enriched in individuals nesting in arribada. Arribada nesters also had increased levels of oxidative damage compared to solitary nesters. These results suggest that there is a trade-off between the fitness benefits associated with arribada nesting and physiological costs.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Rachel C. Turner, Charles J. Innis, Brian A. Stacy, Jorge A. Hernandez, Richard C. Hill, Karen C. Scott, Salvatore Frasca, Michael M. Garner, Rachel E. Burns, Michael D. Arendt, Jennifer Brisson, Terry M. Norton, Sea Rogers Williams, Adam Kennedy, Amy B. Alexander, Nicole I. Stacy
Summary: This study found that diagnosis of steatitis in cold-stunned KRT takes a long time, with diverse histologic findings in affected adipose tissue. Cold-stunned KRT with steatitis had significantly lower plasma vitamin E concentrations, lower TBARS concentrations, and higher T/E ratios compared to controls.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Sude Celik, Damla Beton, Burak Ali Cicek, Robin T. E. Snape, Eyup Baskale
Summary: There are differences in metal accumulation levels in liver, kidney, heart, and muscle samples from green turtles and loggerhead turtles stranded in Northern Cyprus. Some elements in the same tissue significantly differed between the two species, likely due to their different feeding habits and exposure to different levels of metals. Additionally, there were associations among elements within tissues and across different tissues, indicating differential accumulation of elements among organs.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Dana K. Briscoe, Calandra N. Turner Tomaszewicz, Jeffrey A. Seminoff, Denise M. Parker, George H. Balazs, Jeffrey J. Polovina, Masanori Kurita, Hitoshi Okamoto, Tomomi Saito, Marc R. Rice, Larry B. Crowder
Summary: The North Pacific Loggerhead sea turtle undergoes a significant migration from nesting grounds in Japan to foraging grounds in the eastern North Pacific, with a new hypothesis suggesting the existence of a thermal corridor connecting these habitats. By studying oceanography and tracking data, it was found that a small percentage of loggerhead turtles move eastward during anomalously warm ocean conditions, providing insights into recruitment pathways. The discovery of this potential thermal corridor offers the opportunity to explore the development of dynamic ocean pathways for this protected species, shedding light on a longstanding mystery in sea turtle ecology.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Javad Loghmannia, Ali Nasrolahi, Sergey Dobretsov
Summary: In this study, the epibiotic bacteria on sea turtles in the Persian Gulf were investigated. The highest and lowest bacterial densities were found on green and hawksbill sea turtles, respectively. The dominant class of bacteria on all substrates was Gamma- and Alpha-proteobacteria.
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Rodolfo Martin-del-Campo, Christian D. Ortega-Ortiz, Alberto Abreu-Grobois, Luis M. Enriquez-Paredes, David Petatan-Ramirez, Alejandra Garcia-Gasca, Sonia I. Quijano-Scheggia
Summary: This study identified the haplotype composition of olive ridley turtles in Central Mexican Pacific waters using mtDNA control region sequencing. The results highlight the importance of genetic diversity in feeding and migration behavior of olive ridleys, as well as the role of ocean currents in sea turtle migration.
Article
Ecology
Javad Loghmannia, Ali Nasrolahi, Mohsen Rezaie-Atagholipour, Bahram H. Kiabi
Summary: Through studying the epibiont communities on 46 hawksbill turtles in the Persian Gulf, it was found that there are various epibiont species on the turtles, and significant differences exist in the epibiont communities found on turtles from different locations. These differences are likely influenced by local environmental conditions.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Monica Francesca Blasi, Pasquale Avino, Ivan Notardonato, Cristina Di Fiore, Daniela Mattei, Marco Friedrich Walter Gauger, Michelle Gelippi, Davide Cicala, Sandra Hochscheid, Andrea Camedda, Giuseppe Andrea de Lucia, Gabriele Favero
Summary: This study investigated the presence of PAEs in the blood of Mediterranean loggerhead turtles for the first time and found that PAEs concentrations varied among individual turtles. Blood was determined to be a good matrix for assessing the acute exposure of marine turtles to PAEs.
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Giulia Chemello, Erica Trotta, Valentina Notarstefano, Luana Papetti, Ludovica Di Renzo, Marco Matiddi, Cecilia Silvestri, Oliana Carnevali, Giorgia Gioacchini
Summary: This study investigates the presence of microplastics in yolk and liver samples of loggerhead sea turtle embryos and finds a correlation between microplastics and the number of melanomacrophages, suggesting potential impacts on embryonic health.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Rogerio L. Ferreira, Filipe R. Ceia, Teresa C. Borges, Jaime A. Ramos, Alan B. Bolten
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL MARINE BIOLOGY AND ECOLOGY
(2018)
Article
Plant Sciences
Emma L. Hearne, Robert A. Johnson, Alexandra G. Gulick, Alli Candelmo, Alan B. Bolten, Karen A. Bjorndal
Article
Plant Sciences
Robert A. Johnson, Alexandra G. Gulick, Nerine Constant, Alan B. Bolten, Fee O. H. Smulders, Marjolijn J. A. Christianen, Mabel I. Nava, Keith Kolasa, Karen A. Bjorndal
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Frederic Vandeperre, Hugo Parra, Christopher K. Pham, Miguel Machete, Marco Santos, Karen A. Bjorndal, Alan B. Bolten
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Alexandra G. Gulick, Robert A. Johnson, Clayton G. Pollock, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Alan B. Bolten, Karen A. Bjorndal
Article
Plant Sciences
Alexandra G. Gulick, Robert A. Johnson, Clayton G. Pollock, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Alan B. Bolten, Karen A. Bjorndal
Summary: The recovery of green turtles is leading to significant changes in ecosystems, with the return of meadows to a naturally grazed state. Research has identified mechanisms for compensatory growth responses of seagrasses to grazing, with factors such as shoot density and above-ground biomass affecting growth patterns. Grazed areas show increased leaf growth and productivity in response to grazing intensity, while ungrazed areas exhibit different trends. Mass growth and productivity in grazed areas are maintained above certain thresholds, suggesting a sustainable compensatory growth response to grazing by green turtles.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Alexandra G. Gulick, Anne B. Meylan, Peter A. Meylan, Kristen M. Hart, Jennifer A. Gray, Gaelle Roth, Alan B. Bolten, Karen A. Bjorndal
Summary: Global populations of green turtles are recovering, with ingest size playing a critical role in optimizing their grazing strategy. Limited response to changes in seagrass availability suggests potential resilience to habitat alterations.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Sibelle Torres Vilaca, Riccardo Piccinno, Omar Rota-Stabelli, Maeva Gabrielli, Andrea Benazzo, Michael Matschiner, Luciano S. Soares, Alan B. Bolten, Karen A. Bjorndal, Giorgio Bertorelle
Summary: Reconstructing past events of hybridization and population size changes are essential to understand the speciation mechanisms and genetic diversity patterns in sea turtles. Studies have found that five out of seven extant sea turtle species currently hybridize, with a general decline in population sizes observed, except for the leatherback sea turtle. Ancestral gene flow events lasting for millions of years within Chelonioidea have also been revealed, raising questions about whether current hybridization events should be considered as part of the species' evolutionary history or as a conservation issue.
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Luciana Medeiros, Milani Chaloupka, Alan B. Bolten, Eduardo M. von Muhlen, Alexsandro Santos, Ana C. J. Marcondes, Joao C. A. Thome, Maria Angela Marcovaldi, Karen A. Bjorndal
Summary: Trindade Island in Brazil is a remote volcanic island with a genetically distinct and the largest green turtle nesting aggregation in the southwest Atlantic. The study finds that the population of green turtles on Trindade Island remains stable, which contrasts with the increasing trends observed in other areas of the Atlantic.
Article
Limnology
Robert A. Johnson, Kathleen M. Hanes, Alan B. Bolten, Karen A. Bjorndal
Summary: This study simulated the effects of green turtle grazing on seagrass growth and investigated the relationship between grazing and growth dynamics in response to temperature and salinity changes. The results showed that grazing altered the seagrass response to temperature in terms of P : B ratio and leaf area index, and this response was seasonally dependent.
LIMNOLOGY AND OCEANOGRAPHY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Alexandra G. Gulick, Robert A. Johnson, Laura A. Palma, Ashley M. Kusel, Clayton G. Pollock, Zandy Hillis-Starr, Alan B. Bolten, Karen A. Bjorndal
Summary: This study examined the effects of seagrass morphology and leaf nitrogen content on green turtle grazing behavior. The results showed that seagrass morphology significantly affected the forage intake of green turtles, while leaf nitrogen content had no effect. The turtles showed more efficient foraging in areas with shorter leaves and higher leaf biomass concentration. The study also found that the turtles selected shorter leaves for consumption in grazed areas.