Cagle's Map Turtle Research Paper

Baby red-eared slider turtles are brightly colored. With bold patterns on their yellowish under shells. Which serve as a warning to predators. the bright colors of skunks and other animals. They signal that the animals will spray nasty chemicals. In contrast, the turtle's colors warn largemouth bass. that the baby turtle will actively defend itself. When a bass gulps down a turtle, the feisty baby laws and bites. Forcing the bass to spit it out. To avoid a similar painful experience. The bass will avoid other baby red-eared slider turtles. The turtle loses its bright colors as it grows too big. For a Bass's afternoon

Sea turtles lay an average of about 100 eggs in each nest, and lay an average of 3-7 nests during their nesting season (Tim Flannery). Also in Florida, along about a twenty mile stretch of beach sea turtles lay over 150,000 pounds of eggs in the sand every nesting period. Which would seem like enough to keep their population up, but it is not that simple. Now why are sea turtle populations shrinking you may ask? Well, that’s simple. Climate change is not the only threat that a sea turtle has to fear. Along with climate change sea turtles face the fear of being eaten, not being able to make it back to the water when they are first hatched, being picked up by whatever or whoever may come by, and a whole other array of things that most do not even take into consideration. Over the last few years climate change has simply been one of the main things observed when

The Red-bellied Cooter is being threatened by both man-made and natural causes. Do to economic growth, areas that used to be a good habitat for these turtles are now being turned into new, buildings like apartments, houses, and stores. In areas where the turtles can live, they are threatened before they have even hatched from their eggs by other predators like raccoons, skunks, or even snapping turtles. Almost all of the eggs in a nest are harmed before they have a chance to hatch. So while humans taking up land takes the Red-bellied Cooters’ homes, their predators take their lives.

With nearly 84% of its natural habitat gone, it is no wonder Reithrodontyms Raviventris finds itself on the endangered species

The green sea turtle occurs throughout tropical and subtropical oceans and is among the largest of the hard-shelled sea turtles growing to as much as 440 pounds and four feet in length. The breeding populations in Florida were listed as endangered in 1978 (43 FR 32800 32811, July 28, 1978) whereas all other populations were listed as threatened (NOAA 2015h). There is a proposal for identification of a North Atlantic green sea turtle distinct population that would be listed as threatened, continuing its current listing status near New York (80 FR 51763 51764, August 26, 2015). They are found in the shallow waters (except during migration) of shoals, bays, lagoons reefs, and inlets, often where submerged aquatic vegetation exists, from Maine south to Florida, and throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea (USFWS 2015n, 2015o; NOAA 2015e). Green sea turtles nests are not present in New York; however, they occasionally are found stranded on or near the shore (NYSDEC 2015ad). Breeding takes places in subtropical to tropical oceans every two, three, or four years between June and September, with peak nesting in June and July (NOAA 2015h; USFWS 2015u). Hatching usually occurs at night, and many green sea turtle hatchlings seek refuge and food in masses of floating sea plants (USFWS

Loggerhead eggs and hatchlings are a large food source for a variety of terrestrial animals, nearshore predatory fish, and seabirds, providing substantial amounts of energy and nutrients for these species (Wilson et al. 2010). A five or ten year period of loggerhead turtle declines may cause sublethal effects such as decreased growth rates or reproductive output for these predator species and a fifty year period of loggerhead turtle decline may potentially have more severe impacts such as significant declines for local populations that rely on eggs and hatchlings as a food source.

Therefore, sea otters play an indirect, yet vital role in the preservation of kelp forests. This in turn protects kelp forests and other macroalgae, which would have otherwise been depleted due to grazing by sea urchins. “Where sea otters abound so do lush kelp forests, and where sea otters are absent the habitat is typically deforested by hyperabundant sea urchins” (Soulé et al 1240). The significance of this interaction can be wholly surmised only when the importance of kelp forests is understood. “Kelp forests are a source of food and habitat for dozens of other coastal species” (Soulé et al 1240). Innumerable coastal marine organisms thrive on kelp forests, enhancing biodiversity of the region. Therefore, to maintain the diversity and richness of coastal marine ecology, sea otters should be preserved, who indirectly lead to the preservation of kelps.

Furthermore, one of my favorite days during the program was going to the Maui Ocean Center. It is known to be the nation’s largest tropical reef aquarium. This allows people from all over the world to be able to view Hawaii’s beautiful undersea world all at once. Many of the animals that are held captive at the Maui Ocean center are mainly found in Hawaii. The Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles exhibit truly caught my attention at the Ocean center. They have a education outreach program called Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle Educational Loan Program that helps strengthen the population of this particular specie. There was a study done to see how well the captive bred green turtles were adapting to wildlife. The information obtained during 267-481 days of remote monitoring using satellite tracking gave strong support to the premise of successful adaptation to the wild by the four captive- reared juvenile green turtles released by the Maui Ocean Center (Balazs, Parker, Gorman, Luecke, Pawloski, 2015) . Current research in Hawaii shows the Hawaiian green turtle population is increasing since they have been protected by federal law (Maui Ocean Center,

Like all turtle species, human predation and collecting is a serious danger to their survival: Loggerhead eggs and the turtles themselves, are sold on the black market for food and their shells are used to make items such as boat paddles and helmets in some places (Hawkes, 2016). The black market is an illegal shop were people sell things that are prohibited to sell (Hawkes, 2016). They usually held in secret places where no one knows (Hawkes, 2016). Around 65% of Loggerhead Turtles are killed each year because of the black market (Nobs, 2004). People kill these poor, harmless animals just for profit and it need to stop (Marine Bio, 2015). But there e actually is no way to stop black markets, you can reduce them but you can’t stop it. This is because black markets are an idea and once an idea is out, you can’t reverse it and take it back. (Holden, 2014). If you were to stop this, the government of every state would need to basically go round their whole city/state and check every corner where there may be a black market, because if nothing gets done we will loose our precious creatures (Queach,

The Ocean is 70 percent of the earth’s surface, humans have explored less than five percent of the ocean, and is home to an innumerable amount of living organisms. One of its oldest inhabitants is the Cheloniidae dates back to the Triassic era, roughly 250 million years ago, (Wang et al., 2013). The Cheloniidae family has several subspecies the Eretmochelys imbricate, Caretta caretta, Dermochelys coriacea, Lepidochelys olivacea, and Chelonia mydas. While there are multiple endangered subspecies of the Cheloniidae; the endangered Chelonia mydas, commonly known as the green turtle, will be the focus of this paper. The paper will discuss the green turtle’s importance to its ecosystem, where they are most commonly found, importance to its ecosystem,

The Blanding turtle are freshwater medium sized turtle usually found in The Great Lakes Regions in USA and in Canada. They are from the omnivorous species and usually eat crayfish, small animals, and plants. Their life histories traits occurs between April and November, as May and April tend to be more for mating and Early June for nesting. Less than half of these females will actually go on to reproducing. Many of these turtles can actually live up to sixty to a hundred years in age. Though these turtles spend a majority of time in the aquatics they also come on to the mainland. This is were the problem starts to occur and this is why the Blanding sea turtles are currently threatened and may soon be extinct. It is because of us humans that these species are currently facing habitat loss, have threatened nesting areas, and are unable to get from nesting areas to the lakes because of manmade roads. Why should we as humans care so much if these Blanding’s turtles go extinct? These turtles play an important

Sea turtle hatchlings are now having trouble finding their way to the sea because of all the lights from buildings that are built on the coast. They get disoriented when they are born and will wander in the wrong way away from the sea. This leads them to predators that live inland or will even cause the turtle to become dehydrated and die. Humans are also building coastal armoring that is blocking female turtles from reaching a suitable nesting habitat. This is a severe problem in Florida where they have many coastal rock elevations and sand bags. Where all this beach development is occurring thousands of sea turtles are trying to nest. Beach dredging is also having a direct effect on sea turtle's trying to nest. If the sand is too impacted or is drastically different from native beach sediment, the mother will have trouble creating the

Loggerhead sea turtles also have long migrations and these migrations transport nutrients and energy from one area to another. The migration of males from foraging grounds to nesting beaches

Nearly all species of sea turtle are classified as endangered and are increasingly threatened by climate change. All sea turtle species have temperature-dependent sex determination. Female offspring of sea turtle species are produced at higher temperatures. A warming climate may drastically alter the sex ratios of sea turtles species and reduce fertility rates and genetic variation. High enough temperatures can also create single-sex generations. A 2009 study (Hawkes et. al) on climate change and marine that reviewed data to assess probable impacts of climate change on sea turtles, found that one of the data gaps in past research was data on unbalanced primary sex ratios. (x) Another 2009 study (Poloczanska, Limpus & Hays) indicated a lack

Significant numbers of sea turtles from around the world nest on Florida beaches, although, the human population of Florida happens to be extremely concentrated around coastal areas as well. The development of coasts brings an increase in artificial light, which can be quite the problem for nesting sea turtles. The development and increase in artificial light has contributed greatly to the decline of populations in recent years (Conserve Sea Turtles). Artificial lighting has a detrimental effect on sea turtle reproduction in many different ways. For instance, lighting can cause the turtles to avoid nesting in the area because they consider it bad habitat. Even if they decide to nest there, there is still the chance that their nests may potentially fail (Salmon 2003). Nestlings will often deter their emergence from the nest in the presence of artificial lighting (Salmon). If the nestlings hatch, they begin the process of locating the ocean from the nest, called “seafinding”. This task is accomplished mostly visually. An effect called "hatchling disorientation" occurs when hatchlings become disoriented and wander the opposite direction and inland, which then often leads to them to die of dehydration or predation (Witherington 2003). According to scientists, hatchlings have “an innate instinct that leads them in the brightest direction”, which is usually moon light creating light by