Relating fibropapilloma tumor severity to blood parameters in green turtles Chelonia mydas.

Fibropapillomatosis is a neoplastic disease that is commonly found in the green turtles Chelonia mydas in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. In the current project, juvenile green turtles were captured with large-mesh tangle nets in the Indian River Lagoon and on nearshore reefs of Indian River County, Florida, USA, in 1998 and 1999. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between the severity of the disease and the general health of green turtles as indicated by blood parameters. All turtles were measured and examined, and the overall severity of the disease was rated by the size, number, and location of external fibropapilloma tumors. Hematocrit, total protein, and hemoglobin concentration were measured and compared with tumor scores (tumor severity appraisal). As the tumor score increased, the blood parameters of turtles decreased; for instance, the percentage of decrease in hematocrit for mildly afflicted, moderately afflicted, and severely afflicted groups were 2.6, 18.3, and 45.5%, respectively. Severely afflicted turtles suffered from anemia, while individuals with mild affliction did not.

Light brightness data near sea turtle nests as measured from the horizon and zenith using a Sky Quality Meter.

A Sky Quality Meter (SQM) is a photometer designed to measure night sky brightness. SQMs have been used to interpret light fields for various purposes, including studies of relationships between directional light brightness and sea turtle hatchling orientation. This article reports SQM data collected on a sea turtle nesting beach at Delray Beach, Florida (USA) on 17 August 2020. Three hundred-and-sixty light brightness data were collected by eight consecutive readings in each of the four horizontal directions and the zenith at nine sites. The data also include landward photographic images captured at the nine light-measurement sites. The dataset supports the usefulness of the instrument for biological light-field measurements and refute blanket criticisms on inconsistent measurements that would justify discarding initial readings and averaging over a time series.

High frequency of micro- and meso-plastics ingestion in a sample of neonate sea turtles from a major rookery.

We studied marine litter ingestion in 380 neonate sea turtles that washed ashore dead onto Florida's central Atlantic coast (USA) following onshore winds. Our sample of "washbacks" included 284 loggerheads (Caretta caretta), 95 green turtles (Chelonia mydas), and one hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata). Of these, 78.7% had ingested plastics and 45.3% had ingested tar. There was a significant relationship between turtles' carapace length and total mass of ingested plastic. Ingested plastics included microplastics (<5 mm) and larger sizes up to 25% of carapace length. Washbacks' body condition indices were significantly poorer than condition indices of wild turtles captured at sea. Washbacks showed a negative association between plastic load and body condition index, evidence that high plastic loads resulted in diminished nutrition, with possible effects on somatic growth, stage duration, and survivorship. Evidence points to plastics ingestion being an important source of population-level effects in neonate sea turtles.