Although this is a serious post, I would first like to say: if you get the reference in the title, leave a comment. I curious about how many people actually know where it’s from.
For the entirety of this blog, I have focused on issues causing land animals to become endangered. For my last post, I want to shift my focus to issues affecting creatures of the sea. The sea turtle is an animal known and loved by many. However, they are becoming vulnerable to extinction due to various factors including climate change, illegal trade, pollution, and accidental capture.
Sea turtle is a umbrella term for several species of marine turtles. They are part of the Cheloniidae and Dermochelyidae families and inhabit open ocean and areas around the coasts in most oceans. They vary in appearance of their shell, skin, and patterns and weight (weighing anywhere from less than 100 pounds to over 1300 pounds). Depending on the species, sea turtles can be carnivors, omivores, or herbivors. Male turtles rarely return to land. On the other hand, when laying eggs, female sea turtles will come onto beaches and bury their eggs in the sand. This may occur anywhere between 2-10 times in a mating season. The eggs hatch and make their way back to the ocean. The female will then take a 1-2 year hiatus before nesting again. Even though many turtles are hatched each year, it is estimated that a majority will not survive to adulthood.
Green Sea Turtle
Sea turtles are currently considered endangered. This is due to several human influenced factors.
One of these factors is plastic pollution. Sea turtles are one of the 700 species affected by plastic in the ocean. One way plastics affect these turtles in through leeching chemical. The chemicals that leech out of plastics may be absorbed into aquatic plants, which are consumed by microorganisms and other organisms. Through bio-accumulation, these toxins can make their way through the food change while becoming more concentrated. When they eventually make their way into the sea turtle, they can have a serious health affect. The turtles may also confuse the plastic for food (such as jelly fish, which some turtles eat). This will also have a serious health affect because plastic cannot be digested.
Comparison of Jelly fish to a plastic bag
Turtles are also fished for consumption and trade. Although at times it may be accidental, commercial fishing of turtles is causing their decline in population. Capturing these turtles may cause injury or even death. If a turtle manages to escape capture or is released, its injuries may make it an easy target for predators. In other cases, turtles are specifically targeted for consumption. Poachers will wait for females to come to the beach to hatch. Once the female has nested, they will kill the turtle and take the eggs. This not only reduces the current turtle population, but reduces the number of turtles in future generations. Turtles are also hunted to make products out of their shells, such as jewelry.
Climate change also has a great effect on sea turtles. Raising water levels due to climate change causes beaches to disappear, giving turtles less places to nest. Also, more incubation of eggs effects the sex of turtles. Higher temperatures lead to more female turtles. This makes mating more difficult because there are less males to mate with. It also leads to less genetic diversity, which could lead to accusations of mutations that could hurt the turtle population.
Sea turtles are important to both the environment and the economy.
As many other animals, sea turtles help maintain the environment by ensuring invading or largely populated species are under control and serving as food for other animals. Different species of turtles eat different foods. This means they are able to control various plant and animal populations. Having an animal to control the population of other species ensures that the ecosystem remains balanced. Sea turtles also serve as food for other animals. Other than sharks, sea turtles, mainly baby turtles, are eaten by other species such as sea birds and raccoons.
Through personal experience, I have come to learn that sea turtles are important to the economy. One of these reasons is tourism. When I went to Mexico on vacation a few years ago, I went snorkeling to see sea turtles. This brings revenue to the snorkel companies and guides. Also, sea turtles aid in the fishing industry. By maintaining the ecosystem, sea turtles allow the fish population to flourish, which ensures that there are more fish to be fished.
Not only are sea turtles cute, but they are also important to both people in the planet.
Because this will me my last post, I want to leave a few remark. I am very passionate about animal conservation, as you may be able to tell. It is so important to save animal population that are declining due to human intervention. It is our duty as inhabitants of this planet to ensure its health and prosperity. I hope everyone will do their part in helping conserve animal species.
Only a few of the many animals that are endangered
Marta, I really like how you discussed how plastic pollution is harming sea turtles. Many people do not realize how the litter they throw on the ground gets washed away into bodies of water and harm aquatic organisms. Sea turtles and other aquatic organisms are also suffering as a result of climate change, and as someone who is really into biology, I found it interesting to read about how the higher temperatures are causing female sea turtles to become more abundant in their populations. It seems as though the sea turtle population will have much more competitive sexual selection as a result of having a higher proportion of females, and I think that is something that would be really cool to study. Also, it never occurred to me that people actually eat sea turtles. Of course, it is not surprising considering people eat all sorts of things depending on where they are from, but I personally just never thought about eating a turtle once in my life. They’re too cute haha! Anyway, this post was very informative to learn about the dangers sea turtles are facing!
It’s so sad that sea turtles are endangered, I think that they are so beautiful. I always get upset when I see trash on beaches, because I think of the way in which it could affect the animals. Specifically, I always cut up those plastic soda holders with the circles before I throw them away, because I know that turtles often get stuck in them. I also thought it was interesting how the temperature of the turtle eggs affects the sex they are born as. That’s so cool, I had no idea about that!
Great concluding post to this blog. At this point you’ve made it quite clear that the endangerment of certain species is a particularly big problem, and I’m on board with you all the way.
It was especially eye-opening to see the comparison between plastic bags and jellyfish. I had always heard the comparison before, but I never really got to visualize it. Now, I can understand why it would cause such confusion for sea turtles. I know that pollution in the ocean has already been a big problem, but this just makes it even more clear.
It is nice to see that there are people who are passionate for the environment and the creatures that make it up, especially with a keystone species like the sea turtle. You’ve brought up a lot of good topics about conservation and endangered species in these blog posts and I have no doubt that your experience will translate well to your policy paper.
Turtle, Turtle, Turtle. Ocean pollution and its impacts on organisms such as Sea Turtles is an interesting issue in that so many people contribute to it without realizing. The way pollution travels along water ways and inevitably makes its way to the ocean is hard to understand for many people and it leads to the drastic decline in healthy sea life. I wish there was an easy solution. I have read about trash clean up efforts including trash collecting floaters, but the thing that surprised me the most is Blue Planet II has shown a significant impact on plastic collection efforts. I hope this comment is turtley enough for the turtle club.
The problem of plastic pollution in the oceans breaks my heart. Not only is it an eyesore to people when near shore, but it is also a huge threat to wildlife populations as you mentioned. With turtles, when I think of pollution problems effecting them I automatically think of plastic bags. Turtles cannot tell the difference between these and the jellyfish they are actually supposed to eat, causing them to be harmed by their own natural behavior. After eating too many plastic bags that will not be digested, turtles can end up starving because they think they are full! Its so so sad for me to think about things like this, because turtles are amazing, majestic creatures, and it is unfair that dumb human actions are causing them to suffer.
Marta, this was such a sad post :'( the problem with plastic in the ocean makes me want to find out if there is a new material we can make bags out of that are more biodegradable. If so, all plastic bags should be made of that material so that they can dissolve in the ocean before wildlife eat it, or at least, it would degrade in the stomachs of those animals. Another thing –– I watched a Planet Earth II episode recently on cities, and there are some species of turtles that have eggs that hatch on the shore in the sand at night, and they use the light of the full moon to guide them to the ocean. But in cities, turtles have repeatedly confused city lights with the full moon, and have been misguided. These hatchlings end up going in exactly the wrong direction, and many get run over by cars on the first road on the edge of the city. I wish we could just hang a giant curtain across beaches so that turtles would only see the light of the full moon on the water! Is there any policy or other plan of action to help these turtles? Animal conservation is so so so important and thank you for picking this topic to write about!