Possible Impacts Of Climate Change On Sea Turtle

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Achieve3000, August 7, 2015). A rare leatherback sea turtle was found on a South Carolina beach in March 2015. The enormous reptile weighed 476 pounds (216 kilograms). It was spotted on the Yawkey-South Island Reserve in Georgetown County. The creature was brought to the South Carolina Aquarium. Workers named her Yawkey. She was treated with fluids, antibiotics, and vitamins. She was the first leatherback to be found alive in South Carolina. Caretakers were eager to see her returned to the sea.

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

A decline in loggerhead populations due to temperature increases will have a large ecological effect as loggerhead turtles play important ecological roles such as maintaining food webs, cycling nutrients, and modifying habitat (Wilson et al. 2010 and Bjorndal 2003). Loggerhead turtles physically support many marine species. Loggerheads support the largest and most diverse amounts of epibionts of any marine turtle species. There are many epibionic species that are endemic to sea turtles and sea turtles maintain biodiversity in epibiont communities. A period of five to ten years may have minimal impacts on epibiont communities; however, a fifty year period may see enough loggerhead population declines that epibiont species are at risk

The Chelonia mydas can grow up to a maximum length of 4 feet and weigh up to 440 pounds (ecos.fws.gov, 2016). The green turtle can be found in Mesoamerican Reef, Coastal East Africa, Coral Triangle, the Galapagos, and the Gulf of California (worldwildlifefund.org, 2016). These areas are resting and nesting areas that are primarily located in shallow water, lagoons, and bays with nearby seagrass (ecos.fws.gov, 2016). In the last decade the habitats of the Chelonia mydas have been negatively effect in regards of the primary food source having been heavily reduced by climate change. A study conducted from 2000 to 2013 observed the before and effects of an extreme heat wave on an ecosystem on the West coast of Australia (Thomson et al., 2015). The study reported a 90% dieback of seagrass also resulting in habitat degradation and the steady decline of Chelonia mydas health with only 6 percent fell in the highest health category (Thomson et al.

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

Chelonia mydas, also known as the green sea turtle,is one of the seven remaining sea turtles in the planet. Though most sea turtles are characterized by its large, streamlined shells, the green sea turtle gains its name from the olive green colour of its skin, which is made up of fat and cartilage, not their shell. In fact, the hard, bony, and scaly shell of the green sea turtle is a darkish brown. Their oval shell can also be a light shade of brown or yellow. The narrow, wing-like flippers in these turtles as a replacement for forearms has made them better adapted to the aquatic conditions of their habitat. These flippers have one visible claw at the tip, used for protection from predators. To compensate for the lack of teeth in these species,

Sea Otters as well as many other species are in danger because of Climate Change.The sudden change in climate has disturbed the ocean’s temperature which causes an insufficient amount of food for sea otters which causes the otters to be malnourished and starved. Because of the change in climate there has been a decrease in the amount of harp seals (Foley, 2013) which happens to be the killer whales main prey, because of this the killer whales have now turned to sea otters. Other likely threats to sea otters because of climate change are ocean acidification in the north Pacific, pathogen transport, marine invasive species, biotoxins withdrawn in bivalve prey, and the recurrence and intensity of storm events (Doroff and Burdin, 2015) . Sea otters have a noticeably solid influence on the wealth of kelp through the impact they have on sea urchins, said James A. Estes, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz who was a co-author on Schmitz 's 2014 review and on the original sea otter study. Otters eat urchins. Urchins eat kelp. So in ocean patches where otters are bountiful, urchin populations collapse and kelp tends to thrive (Estes,Cruz and Schmitz,2014). The study, led by Wilmers and published in 2012, found that across the otter 's range the animal could be indirectly at fault for getting rid of as much as 8.7 million tons of carbon dioxide, more than twice what an average

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 Kemp’s Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) is from the family Cheloniidae. It is the smallest of the seven sea turtle species, weighing between seventy-five and one-hundred pounds (75-100 lbs) and measuring approximately two feet (2 ft) in length. The Kemp’s Ridley diet is similar to the Olive Ridley. According to the IUCN, as of August 1996 (needs updating), the Kemp’s Ridley is considered “Critically Endangered” on the Red List Category and Criteria

As carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, increased concentrations of it have led to an amplified greenhouse effect. More solar infrared radiation is re-emitted and absorbed by the Earth, causing surface temperatures to rise. Therefore, the density of the surface waters will decrease, which means there is a greater

Another positive effect that global warming has on lizards is that some lizards are moving to cooler climates, which gives them more food choices. Small insects, especially crickets, like to be in cool climates, so when lizards move to these places they have more food choices. These insects hide under leaves and plants, which is normally cooler, this gives lizards easy hunt and can eat when they are hungry for a bite! Also, in these climates lizards have more to Did you know that global warming is a huge problem to humans, animals, and plants? Global warming is a natural occurrence and it occurs when humans use non renewable resources that give off carbon dioxide when used.

The climate change has caused not only waters to raise in temperature, but also in the sea level; this is having a major negative effect on sea turtles. When the female sea turtles lay their eggs and bury them in the sand, the rising waters make the eggs’ nest a dangerous place to be, resulting in even lower amounts of turtles hatched. Also, the rising temperatures effects the natural eggs’ incubation temperature of 34°C higher, which effects the sex of the turtle. Loggerhead turtles in Florida are ninety percent female due to this factor. If the temperature continues to rise, there may be no males left at all.

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

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words” (Anna Sewell). There is undeniable evidence that animals are being affected by climate change. Even though the effects are difficult to measure, there are many different ways animals are being affected. With the loss of predator and prey species it affects the life cycles in the food chain. The earth’s climate change causes habitats such as snow, ice, or forest areas to alter, resulting in loss of habitat and food accessibility as well as causing extinction.

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.