The Positive And Negative Impacts Of The Leatherback Sea Turtles

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

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

Humans have heavily affected sea turtle mortality rates, but one may ask what the benefit of having a stable and healthy population of sea turtles is. Sea turtles hold many important roles in both terrestrial and marine ecosystems where they are found. Along coasts where sea turtles are found nesting, beaches have been seen to have an increase in organic matter, phosphorus, nitrogen, and lipids (Bouchard 2000). This matter left by the sea turtle is in the forms of unhatched eggs and eggshells, which are then brought into the food chain through decomposers, such as beetles, or sea turtle predators, such as crabs (Bouchard 2000).

This project will help me to make connections with the world because I will be working with one of the most-well known organization on Maui. I will learn more about turtles and their habitats. This will challenge me because I will need to dedicate my time during the week. This means I need to organize my time and plans. I have a list of five questions that will be answered to finish my project. These questions are: How do turtles hatch their eggs and how it looks like? What can we do to help turtles? What does turtles do in their daily life? How many turtles still remain in Hawaii? How much does turtles affect our environment?

The leatherback sea turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, belong in the phylum of Chordate, class of reptilian, order of Testudines, and the family of Dermochelyidae. These reptiles can be found throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. Leatherback sea turtles are the largest turtles in the world. The average life expectancy of a leatherback turtle is forty-five years. Average size of the turtles upper shell, carapace, is about five feet and has a rubber-like texture feel to it consisting mainly of oil-saturated connective tissue. On average Dermochelys coriacea can weigh any where from approximately six hundred to two thousand pounds. In length these turtles are typically fifty-five to seventy-nine inches. The lack of claws is another distinguishing

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

The leatherback is an endangered species. It's also the largest sea turtle. Adults usually weigh about 800 to 1,000 pounds (363 to 454 kilograms). Some have been reported to weigh as much as 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms). The turtles get their name because their backs are covered with leathery, oily tissue instead of a shell.

The lighting causes many turtles to die by leading them away from the moon which can cause dehydration, getting run over, Etc. There are turtles being born each year and 100-300 turtles are dying each year due to the lighting on beaches. If the turtles are being affected by lighting on the beaches many things could happen. A few examples are that the turtles will soon be extinct and we soon will not be able to see their beauty. The other animal rates could go down also because some of the animals need to eat the turtles to survive. People should stop putting the lights near the beach now. It kills the loggerhead turtles each year and soon they will become extinct.

This rare turtle found in the United States is the smallest species of turtle in the United States. It can only grow up to 4.5 inches long! This tiny turtle is in two very small distinct populations that are approximately 250 miles away from each other. These turtles are very recognizable by the orange patches on their head. The National Fish and Wildlife foundation says, “In the last 30 years, these turtles have disappeared from more than 50 percent of the wetlands it once inhabited.” I believe we should be resurrecting more of the land that they used to live on.

Identifying Features- Typically 4 to 6 feet, and 660 to 1,100 pounds. Skin is primarily black, with varying pale spots and a pinkish-white underbelly. Lacks a hard shell but instead has a carapace composed of tough, rubbery skin and thousands of tiny bone plates Its carapace is large, elongated and flexible with 7 distinct ridges running the length of the animal. Front flippers lack claws or scales and back flippers are paddle-shaped.

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,

Sea turtles are becoming more and more endangered as time goes on and is something that really needs to be changed. There are seven species of sea turtle and they are all either endangered or critically endangered. Millions of sea turtles used to inhabit the sea now only a fraction of them are still around. Humans are partly the cause of this because we hunt them for food and profit. It is unbelievable that people can kill such beautiful creatures just for their personal benefit. Humans are not the only reason sea turtles are facing extinction, but we are the main reason. Humans really should not be part of the problem in the first place.

Sea turtles have been a big help in maintaining the health of the world's ocean for more than 100 million years. They help by keeping up coral reefs all the way to transporting nutrients to beaches. Major changes have occurred in oceans everywhere due to the decline of the sea turtle population. Oceans are unhealthy because of this. It is time for us to protect the sea turtles and rebuild their population to ensure healthy oceans in the future. According to oceana.org, there are seven species of sea turtles that roam the world, six of which inhabit U.S. waters, and have been listed as either endangered, or threatened. Up until now, all six of these species are not at a healthy level despite protection measures from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Some populations even continue to decline. Even at a diminished population, sea turtles play an important role in ecosystems. They are also extremely important to humans because they keep oceans healthy, and we use the ocean as a food source. They keep up the health of the ocean in many different ways, all of which, are very important.

Seagrasses are essential primary producers that provide habitat and refuge to fauna. Anthropogenic influences have caused global loss of seagrasses and a major contributor is eutrophication, which increases phytoplankton and algal populations, reduces light availability, and causes daily hypoxic conditions. Eutrophication is commonly linked to declines in temperate conditions and is more difficult to link to tropical systems since decreases are typically related to physical damage and diminishing light conditions from runoff. Climate change, herbivore declines, disease and overfishing, along with anthropogenic impacts from coastal development, run-off, eutrophication, and aquaculture have caused declines in coral reefs and mangrove systems. These three systems are interconnected and when one system is impacted, secondary impacts are observed in the other systems; coastal ecosystems will be adversely effected and decline. Additional research, conservation, and ways to reduce anthropogenic impacts have been discussed. Restoration is used to reverse habitat loss, although success is varied. Coastal systems and the biological and ecosystem services they provide, may take decades to establish. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are instituted to protect systems from further degradation, restore communities and allow them to flourish naturally. However, local residents are affected by MPAs and may become displaced, have restriction placed on their livelihood, or elimination of their