Appropriate morphometrics for the first assessment of juvenile green turtle (Chelonia mydas) age and growth in the south-western Atlantic

Stress response markers in the blood of São Tomé green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) and their relation with accumulated metal levels

“…Sea turtles can be found in all oceans of the planet, except for the poles, and their diet preferences vary not only according to the species but also to their developmental and life-stages (Higgins, 2003;Plotkin, 2003). The green sea turtle, for instance, is normally found throughout tropical and subtropical waters (Andrade et al, 2016) and their diet entails a change from omnivorous to mainly herbivorous in adult stages (Arthur et al, 2008). Therefore, when analysing the studies available in the literature on blood element levels in sea turtles, in general, concentrations seem to fluctuate among different species, developmental stages, target population, and geographical area.…”

“…Four of the seven species of sea turtles nest in São Tomé island including the green sea turtle Chelonia mydas (L. 1758) (Vieira et al, 2016). The green sea turtle is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered (Andrade et al, 2016;IUCN, 2021), due to multiple threats such as degradation or loss of nesting habitat (Hamann et al, 2003), poaching (Mancini et al, 2011), meat and eggs consumption (Riskas & Tiwari, 2013), and ecosystem contamination (Dyc et al, 2015).…”

Multiple haplotypes of Chelonia mydas juveniles in a threatened hotspot area in Southern Brazil

“…Between 2-4 years of age, juvenile green turtles are recruited from oceanic to coastal zones, and different factors (e.g. ocean currents, genetic origin) influence migratory patterns (Naro-Maciel et al, 2014;Andrade et al, 2016;Coelho et al, 2018). Ontogenetic alterations, including morphological and ecological patterns (Gama et al, 2016;Coelho et al, 2018), are also associated with diversity in the genetic stocks (Naro-Maciel et al, 2016).…”

“…Juveniles from different nesting sites are recorded using the Southern and Southeastern coasts of Brazil (Proietti et al, 2012;Jordão et al, 2015) for feeding and development (Almeida et al, 2011;Wallace et al, 2011;Andrade et al, 2016;Gama et al, 2016;Lenz et al, 2017). Off the Paraná coast, in Southern Brazil, juvenile green turtles occur annually in waters of the continental shelf, estuaries, and coastal islands (Guebert-Bartholo et al, 2011;Gama et al, 2016).…”

“…Off the Paraná coast, in Southern Brazil, juvenile green turtles occur annually in waters of the continental shelf, estuaries, and coastal islands (Guebert-Bartholo et al, 2011;Gama et al, 2016). This region is an important feeding area for juveniles, aggregating individuals aged 2-8 years (Andrade et al, 2016), migrating from multiple areas (Carman et al, 2012;Fuentes et al, 2020); however, the area presents high mortality rates and is an anthropogenically threatened hotspot (Cantor et al, 2020;Fuentes et al, 2020).…”