Understanding contaminant exposure risks in nesting Loggerhead sea turtle populations

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Barraza, Arthur D
Finlayson, Kimberly A
Leusch, Frederic DL
Limpus, Colin J
van de Merwe, Jason P
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2023
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Abstract

Queensland loggerhead turtle nest numbers at Mon Repos (MR) indicate population recovery that doesn't occur at Wreck Island (WI). Previous research illustrated that MR and WI turtles forage in different locations, potentially indicating risks differences. Blood, scute, and egg were collected from turtles nesting at MR and WI, with known foraging sites (from concurrent studies). Trace element and organic contaminants were assessed via acid digestion and in vitro cytotoxicity bioassays, respectively. WI turtles had significantly higher scute uranium and blood molybdenum compared to MR turtles, and arsenic was higher in WI turtles foraging north and MR turtles foraging south. Egg and blood titanium, manganese, cadmium, barium, lead, and molybdenum, and scute and egg selenium and mercury significantly correlated. Blood (75 %) extracts produced significant toxicity in vitro in turtle fibroblast cells. In conclusion, reducing chemical exposure at higher risk foraging sites would likely benefit sea turtles and their offspring.

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Marine Pollution Bulletin

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196

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© 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Pollution and contamination

Chemical oceanography

Biological oceanography

Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology)

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Barraza, AD; Finlayson, KA; Leusch, FDL; Limpus, CJ; van de Merwe, JP, Understanding contaminant exposure risks in nesting Loggerhead sea turtle populations, Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2023, 196, pp. 115605

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