Fibropapillomatosis (FP) is a neoplastic disease that affects marine turtles worldwide, especially green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas). FP tumors can develop on the body surface of marine turtles and also internally in the oral cavity and viscera. Depending on their quantity, size and anatomical distribution, these tumors can interfere with hydrodynamics and the ability to feed, hence scoring sy...

Mercury is a relatively well-studied pollutant because of its global distribution, toxicity, and ability to bioaccumulate and biomagnify in food webs: however, little is known about bioaccumulation and toxicity of Hg in turtles. Total Hg (THg) concentrations in blood were determined for 552 turtles representing four different species (Chelydra serpentina, Sternotherus odoratus, Chrysemys picta,...

Sea turtles reside in different acoustic environments with each life history stage and may have different hearing capacity throughout ontogeny. For this study, two independent yet complementary techniques for hearing assessment, i.e. behavioral and electrophysiological audiometry, were employed to (1) measure hearing in post-hatchling and juvenile loggerhead sea turtles Caretta caretta (19-62 c...

The western pond turtle Emys (formerly Clemmys) marmorata is declining throughout its range, primarily due to loss of habitat via urbanization and conversion to agriculture. Urban waterways present several important challenges to freshwater turtle populations, but they also present an opportunity to maintain declining species in a ubiquitous habitat that has high public visibility. The arboretu...

European pond turtles represent a phylogeographically deeply structured complex of distinct taxa. Here, we use mitochondrial DNA sequences (cytochrome b gene) and eight polymorphic microsatellite loci to investigate genetic differentiation and gene flow of Sicilian, Corsican and Sardinian pond turtles and of subspecies involved in two secondary contact zones in the Pyrenean region and Southern ...

transAtlantic migration lasting a period of years. Turtles enter the North Atlantic gyre, a circular current system that flows around the Sargasso Sea, and many cross to the eastern side of the Atlantic before returning to North America. The turtles have a strong need to remain within the gyre: if they stray too far north they risk death in cold waters, whereas going too far south may cause the...

Incubation temperature plays a prominent role in shaping the phenotypes and fitness of embryos, including affecting developmental rates. In many taxa, including turtles, eggs are deposited in layers such that thermal gradients alter developmental rates within a nest. Despite this thermal effect, a nascent body of experimental work on environmentally cued hatching in turtles has revealed unexpec...

Mercury contamination threatens many ecosystems worldwide. Methylmercury bioaccumulates at each trophic level, and biomagnifies within individuals over time. Long-lived turtles often occupy high trophic positions and are likely to accumulate mercury in contaminated habitats. Millions of turtles worldwide are sold in Asia for human consumption, and consumers may be at risk if turtles contain hig...

Meiolaniid or horned turtles are members of the extinct Pleistocene megafauna of Australia and the southwest Pacific. The timing and causes of their extinction have remained elusive. Here we report the remains of meiolaniid turtles from cemetery and midden layers dating 3,100/3,000 calibrated years before present to approximately 2,900/2,800 calibrated years before present in the Teouma Lapita ...

Over the past few decades, there have been increasing numbers of reports of diseases in marine turtles. Furthermore, in recent years, there have been documented instances of apparently new diseases emerging in these species of which the etiology and/or pathogenesis remain unknown. These instances i) raise concern for the survival of marine turtles, and ii) question the health and stability of t...