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Article Evaluation

There are many issues associated with this article the organization could be improved and the information in the article is lacking. There are very few citations and the citations present are biased and unreliable. In the Fauna section amphibians and fish are completely excluded. The organisms mentioned are very few. Only one link was provided for mammals, I went ahead and added a few more for reptiles, amphibians, and fishes. The climate change section needs to be vastly edited as the focus was on introduced species and endangered species, while these are issues that can occur in conjunctions with climate change they should be there own sections and the actual causes and effects of climate change should be discussed. Coral reef ecosystems, springs, wetlands, and beaches should be included in this article and if they are already mentioned it is not in enough detail. The article is not entirely neutral, and has biased citations.

There are only two conversations in the talk page with no responses. Our class added another discussion to the page.

Potential Articles for Review

  1. Sea Turtle Threats - Rated B for moderately developed. However, missing an entire section on boat strikes as a threat to sea turtles. I will use citations from my thesis to add this section to the page.
  2. Sea Turtle - Rated C with room for improvement. Under current status and threats I would ensure that all the status of the sea turtles is up to date according to the IUCN red list. Some of the threats in this section are elaborated more than others. I would like to work on this and make it so that there is enough reliable information in each category, along with adding vessel strikes here. I can see that some of the information needs citations, I would like to contribute to this by finding reliable citations for the information. The rehabilitation section is also lacking a lot of information I would like to add a complete list of rehabilitation facilities (at least add the ones from Florida and potentially the United States) along with information about the rehabilitation facilities and what they do.
  3. Ecology of Florida - Migration patterns section only discusses the Florida Panther, could include other bird species, sea turtles, manatees, and cetaceans. Could add a marine section.
  4. Animal Migration Tracking - Missing section on stable isotope analysis used to track migration. Add section on this here.
  5. Leatherback Sea Turtle - Add boat strike information in the conservation section.
  6. Turtling (hunting) - nothing about Costa Rica, talk about tourist consuming sea turtle eggs (shots??), hawksbill sea turtle used for jewelry. Can probably find other information about turtle hunting/poaching that would be relevant to add to this article.

Draft for Threats to Sea Turtles

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(Adding a section on boats)

Boats

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Image of a manatee with boat strike injuries. Similar injuries occur on turtle with parallel cuts (as shown in the image) or by blunt force trauma.

There are numerous threats to sea turtles associated with boats including: oil spills, habitat degradation, and vessel collisions.[1] Boat strike injuries result in two types of injuries: blunt force trauma and propeller slices in the carapace. [2] Blunt force trauma is from the hull of the boat hitting the turtle. Blunt force trauma results in a cracking, less obvious, injury on the turtle's carapace. Propeller strikes form clear cut, parallel lines on the carapace of the turtle. The propeller wounds can cut into the spinal cord or lungs if deep enough, as these are located dorsally on the animal attached to the underside of the carapace.[3] Sea turtle stranding data is the primary method of quantifying boat strike injuries, which has increased by 20% in Florida between 1985 and 2005.[4] In general, sea turtles are not able to avoid boat collisions when boats are travelling too quickly. [5] Also, the faster a boat is travelling the more damage is done to the turtle, making incidents more lethal.[6] When sea turtles surface to breathe they continue swimming in the water column just below the surface, this allows them to get a few breathes in at a time, and then dive into deeper water to hunt or forage. This depth is the ideal depth for the propeller of the boat to hit the turtle, it also makes it even more difficult for boaters to try and avoid the turtle, since they can't be seen.

There are ways to mitigate the problem. Speed reduction zones have been beneficial for species such as the Florida manatee.[7] These zones would be especially important implemented in shallow, coastal regions near popular nesting beaches during nesting season. Vessel modification are another way that boaters can reduce their influence on marine life. Jet board motors have an impeller that eliminates the threat of propeller damage to marine turtles. The motor rests only a few inches from the hull of the boat, meaning it is less likely to hit turtles that are not surfacing to breathe. Propeller guards are slightly helpful at idle speeds, but once a boat begins to reach higher planing speeds they are ineffective in protecting the turtle from the propeller. [6]

Sea turtles that strand alive with boat injuries can be treated at rehabilitation facilities. Treatment is not always successful, but there are turtles that do survive boat strike injuries.

Animal Migration Tracking

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(Adding a section on Stable Isotope analysis)

Stable Isotopes

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Sea turtle eggs being laid my the mother. Unhatched eggs can be used in stable isotope analysis.

Stable isotopes are one of the intrinsic markers used for studying migration of animals.[8] One of the benefits of intrinsic markers in general, including stable isotope analysis, is that it does not require an organism to be capture and tagged and then recaptured at a later time. Each capture of an organism provides information on where it has been based on diet. The three types of intrinsic markers that can be used as tools for animal migration studies are: (1) contaminants, parasites and pathogens, (2) trace elements, and (3) stable isotopes. Certain geographic regions have specific stable isotope ratios that affect the chemistry of organisms foraging in those locations, this creates "isoscapes" that scientists can use to understand where the organism has been eating. A couple prerequisites must be met in order to use stable isotope analysis successfully: (1) the animal must have at least one light isotope of interest in specific tissues that can be sampled (this condition is almost always met since these light isotopes are building blocks of most animal tissues), and (2) the organism needs to migrate between isotopically different regions and these isotopes must be retained in the tissue in order for the differences to be measured. [8]

Stable isotope analysis has a lot of benefits and has been used in terrestrial and aquatic organisms. For example, stable isotope analysis has been confirmed to work in determining foraging locations of nesting loggerhead sea turtles.[9] Satellite telemetry was used to confirm that the location derived from the analysis were accurate to where these turtles actually traveled. This is important because it allows for greater sample sizes to be used in migration studies, since satellite telemetry is expensive and tissue, blood, and egg samples can be taken from the female turtles laying eggs.[9]

Turtling (hunting)

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Causes

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There are many reasons why turtles and tortoises are hunted, including food, culture, instruments, and jewelry. Turtles are killed and taken for their meat or eggs. Turtle shells can be used in a variety of ways, including as decoration, to make instruments, or for jewelry.

Species under threat

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Hawksbill sea turtles have been hunted for their shells primarily to make jewelry.[10] Tourists will often buy items without being informed of the source of the material. Green sea turtles eggs are poached and eaten in many countries; this is also a tourist attraction and taking sea turtle shots, consuming raw turtle egg with whiskey or beer is popular in places like Costa Rica. [11]

Image of the radiated tortoise that is in decline in Madagascar.

By region

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Madagascar
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The radiated tortoise (Geochelone radiata) in Madagascar is in serious decline due to over-exploitation. The tortoise is protected under Malagasy law and is part of CITES, however enforcement is low and hunting persists. [12] Guards that are meant to protect the tortoise and prevent hunting are often paid off by the hunters.

Solutions to the problem

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One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome with the hunting and poaching of sea turtles is the cultural aspect. Many countries, such as Costa Rica, have been hunting and eating sea turtles and sea turtle eggs for a very long time and consider it to be part of their culture. When scientists and conservationists try to explain to native poachers the detrimental impact their actions have on sea turtle populations, or when walking nightly patrols on the beach, they are met with hostility and sometimes violence. [13] Continuous education and outreach is important to mitigating the issue, in addition to beach patrols to prevent poachers from taking eggs or nesting female turtles. Implementing laws that protect animals, such as the radiated tortoise in Madagascar, can help population levels if proper enforcement is in place.[12]

Leatherback Sea Turtle

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In the state of Florida, there have been 603 Leatherback strandings between 1980 and 2014. Almost one-quarter (23.5%) of leatherback strandings are due to vessel-strike injuries, which is the highest cause of strandings. [14]

  1. ^ Lutcavage, ME (2003). Biology of Sea Turtles. CRC Press. pp. 388–404.
  2. ^ Heinrich, George (2012). "Boat strikes: A threat to the Suwannee Cooter (Pseudemys concinna suwanniensis)". Herpetological Conservation and Biology. 7: 349–357.
  3. ^ Wyneken, J (2001). The Anatomy of Sea Turtle. U.S. Departments of Commerce NOAA Technnical Memorandum NMFS-SEFSC-470.
  4. ^ Singel, K (2007). "Navigating Florida's waterways: boat related strandings of marine turtles in Florida". Proceeding of the 27th Annual Symposium on Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation.
  5. ^ Hazel, Julia (2007). "Vessel speed increases collision risk for the green turtle Chelonia mydas". Endangered Species Research. 3: 105–113.
  6. ^ a b Work, Paul A.; Sapp, Adam L.; Scott, David W.; Dodd, Mark G. (2010). "Influence of small vessel operation and propulsion system on loggerhead sea turtle injuries". Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 393 (1–2): 168–175. doi:10.1016/j.jembe.2010.07.019. ISSN 0022-0981.
  7. ^ Laist, David W.; Shaw, Cameron (2006). "PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE THAT BOAT SPEED RESTRICTIONS REDUCE DEATHS OF FLORIDA MANATEES". Marine Mammal Science. 22 (2): 472–479. doi:10.1111/j.1748-7692.2006.00027.x. ISSN 0824-0469.
  8. ^ a b Tracking animal migration with stable isotopes. Hobson, Keith Alan, 1954-, Wassenaar, Leonard I. Amsterdam: Academic Press. 2008. ISBN 9780123738677. OCLC 228300275.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. ^ a b Ceriani, Simona A.; Roth, James D.; Evans, Daniel R.; Weishampel, John F.; Ehrhart, Llewellyn M. (2012-09-20). "Inferring Foraging Areas of Nesting Loggerhead Turtles Using Satellite Telemetry and Stable Isotopes". PLoS ONE. 7 (9): e45335. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0045335. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3447946. PMID 23028943.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: PMC format (link) CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  10. ^ Meylan, Anne (1999). "Status justification for listing the Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) as critically endangered on the 1996 IUCN red list of threatened animals". Chelonian Conservation and Biology. 3: 200–224.
  11. ^ "Toasting with turtle eggs: It's legal in Ostional". The Tico Times Costa Rica. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  12. ^ a b O'Brien, Susan; Emahalala, Ellis R.; Beard, Vicki; Rakotondrainy, Riana M.; Reid, Ailsa; Raharisoa, Vola; Coulson, Tim (2003/07). "Decline of the Madagascar radiated tortoise Geochelone radiata due to overexploitation". Oryx. 37 (3): 338–343. doi:10.1017/S0030605303000590. ISSN 1365-3008. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Sea turtle conservationists attacked in Costa Rica". Mongabay Environmental News. 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2018-11-15.
  14. ^ Foley, Allen (2017). "Distributions, relative abundances, and mortality factors of sea turtles in Florida during 1980-2014 as determined from strandings". Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
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