Sea Turtles Are Not Only Affected By Pollution

Global warming -- and climate change -- have long-term and short-term impacts on our environment. Caused by air pollutants such as carbon dioxide and methane, global warming is the gradual increase of air temperature across the globe. The rise in air temperatures can lead to higher extinction rates, increased risk of disease and political repercussions, such as wars over available resources. Understanding the possible short-term and long-term effects can help humans better prepare for the consequences of global warming.

Now, as most may know sea turtles are both marine and land animals depending on what stage of life they are in. Which means that they need to be able to go on land during certain stages of their lives. One of the main reasons why a sea turtle will go on to land is to lay their eggs. Within the last few years this has become harder and harder for the already endangered species. It

Water pollution wreaks havoc on marine organisms around the world. It is a leading cause of species endangerment. One animal that has overwhelmingly felt the effects of water pollution is the sea turtle. I am especially interested in the effects of water pollution on sea turtles as I have worked at a leatherback sea turtle conservatory called San San-Pond Sak in Bocas Del Toro, Panama for two summers. I learned extensively about the hardships that these turtles fae, dealing with a horde of problems from egg poaching to injuries due to water pollution.

Turtles are one of the oldest reptile groups. They are classified as amniotes. They have existed a long time ago, which means they have seen the rise and fall of the dinosaurs and the rise of humanity. Scientists think that turtles have existed for around 157 million years (mosaic 29). Approximately, sea turtles were 65 million years ago (Dobbs 1). This family has survived the passage of time and is threatened by the contamination that humans have created in the ocean. The six sea turtles that occur on the coasts of America are in fact threatened. Sea turtles are very important for the ecosystem, but humans, directly and indirectly, endanger this family. If humans do not stop their destructive habits, we can lose the influence of sea turtles on seafarers. Sea turtles play an important role in the ecology of the ocean, and without turtles, we can see an ecological collapse in the oceans. Sea turtles are one of the few animals in the sea that eat sea grass (Godfrey). Sea turtles act as grazing animals that cut short grass and help maintain the health of the family of seaweed (Godfrey). In recent decades, there has been a decline in the sea grass family. This decrease may be related to the decrease in the number of sea turtles (Godfrey). Sea grass is important because it is a fertile ground for many species of fish, shellfish and crustaceans (Godfrey). The beaches and sand dunes are known for not having many nutrients. When the sea turtles reach

The carbon dioxide levels in the 20th century have been highest in 650,000 years. Till 1950, the levels rose by 11% and recently the levels have risen by 40%. Arctic ice is melting rapidly. It is estimated that by 2040 the region is to have a completely ice free summer, or even earlier. More than 1 million species have become extinct due to disappearing habitats caused due to global warming. Sea levels have risen about 7 inches in the last 100 years, which is more than the previous 2000 years combined. The rising sea levels due to global warming could threaten the lives of people living along the coastal areas. The consumption of fossil fuels in last few decades has contributed much to the destruction of our environment. Global warming, climate

Since late 1800s earth's average temperatures worldwide has risen by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Global warming is gradual heating of the earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere. We are causing the global warming by burning fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and natural gas this fuel are used in factory and other places. Global warming has dramatic effect on wildlife animals such as polar bears, penguins, turtle and many other animals. Today we are going talk about the global warming effect on polar bears. The polar bear was listed as a threatened species.

When it comes to ocean pollution, it doesn't only affect our beaches, but it also affects the sea animals. In Figure 1, you can see an innocent seahorse wrapping their tale around a q-tip. The seahorse in Hofman’s photo is just one example of how marine animals interact with plastic debris. (How a Photographer Snapped This Tragic Photo of a Seahorse Lugging a Q-Tip.” The Verge, The Verge, 15 Sept. 2017) This seahorse now does not know that the debris isn’t okay or out of the usual, but just adapted it as their everyday life because the plastic levels in the sea is increasing massively year by year. Human waste is taking over the sea and this photo proves just that.

Research indicate that garbage such as plastic can create a problem for humans as well as marine species. Pollution in the ocean endangers defenseless marine creatures that wander in the ocean. Occasionally, when scientists dissect marine life fragments of plastic that has littered the ocean floor is found in their digestive systems. Animals are not equipped to distinguish between trash and food. If individuals experienced conditions similar to the ocean marine life, they would probably hesitate before discarding litter in the water and on the beach. Just like creatures in the sea humans can be exposed to the toxic chemicals from manmade debris. Sea turtles are especially susceptible to choking from discarded plastic. We can preserve beaches

Leatherbacks are the species that most people are thinking of when they think of sea turtles. They are the biggest and most migratory of all sea turtles, but they are becoming extremely endangered due to poaching, pollutants, and other killers even though we have tried many things to stop it. We have done many things to protect sea turtles, but some people don’t follow the rules and come closer every day to extinguishing the leatherbacks. People have to stop killing leatherbacks for sport unless they want a whole marine ecosystem to be put off scale.

The current status of the Green sea turtle has been deemed endangered, due to the reckless behavior of fishermen, poachers and the disturbance of their nesting homes. According to the Sea Turtle Restoration Project5 “Ancient ocean dwellers, sea turtles have lived on the Earth for 150 million years, since before the time of the dinosaurs.” Even though Green sea turtles are endangered, they have lived on this planet longer than humans have. Author Carl Sofia2 states that for hundreds of millions of years, turtles swam in a world without people while currently their endangerment has become a nationwide economic issue. This particular topic is important because Green sea turtles are beneficial to the ocean and its inhabitants. NOAA1 discovered that “Adult green sea turtles are unique among sea turtles in that they only eat plants; they are herbivorous feeding primarily on sea grasses and algae.” This diet is beneficial to the ocean because they keep sea grass along the ocean floor short. Marine biologists of the Sea Turtle Conservancy6 declared that, “Sea turtles and manatees act as grazing animals that cut the grass short and help maintain the health of the sea grass beds. Over the past decades, there has been a decline in sea grass beds. This decline may be linked to the low numbers of sea turtles.” While scientist and environmentalist declare overfishing as one of the most important issues, the continuous endangerment of Green sea turtles are more important because they’re

DA VINICI PROJECT- How does plastic pollution effect marine turtles and what can we do to prevent this environmental issue.

Last but not least, global warming has caused the polar ice caps to melt. The melting of the polar ice caps will cause the sea levels to rise all over the world. If the sea levels rise just a metre

Climate change is one of the biggest problems the whole world is collectively facing. Even though climate change is partially caused by the natural cycles of Earth, humans I think are still a major part of it and I think that we can do more to protect the environment that we live in. Climate change happens when temperatures increase dramatically. When climate change causes temperature rises many environmental problems can occur here on earth . Temperatures rising can result in more floods, droughts, or flooding rain, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves which can cause wildfires. Oceans and the Antarctic Ice Glaciers have also experienced changes in oceans that are rising temperatures and are becoming more acidic. The Antarctic ice glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising destroying many habitats along the ice glaciers such as penguins and polar bears. As these changes frequently occur in future decades, they will likely present challenges to our society and environment.

Global warming has a lot of causes and effects throughout the globe, including: icecaps melting, deforestation, carbon emissions, factory smoke, forest fires, coral reefs dying, and extreme weather catastrophes. All of these causes and effects listed can be prevented if only the population of people who do not believe it is real would start caring about the environment and what we release into the atmosphere.

We all see oceans as calming places to spend our vacation with family and friends. Sometimes we accidentally leave the trash right by the shore of the beach, and we don’t even realize how that trash might do anything to the ocean creatures. How much of trash do you think gets left on the beaches? Maybe ten, twenty hundred pounds. It’s neither one of them. According to NBC news “Volunteers scoured 33,000 miles off shoreline worldwide and found six million pounds of debris from cigarette butts and food wrappers (NBC news)”. This is insanity we don’t even realize how inadequate our behaviors are and because of our behavior what might happen to the innocent marine animals that are leaving in the ocean.