the epibionts on caretta caretta shells on bald head island, nc
TRANSCRIPT
The Epibionts on Caretta caretta Shells on Bald
Head Island, NC
Brenna Gormally 2013 Sea Turtle Intern
Introduction • Loggerhead sea turtles are known for having a wide variety of @lora and fauna that live on their carapaces (Pfaller et al. 2008)
• Epibiont—any organism that lives on the surface of another host • Typically neutralistic or commensalistic relationship
Epibionts on the surface of a grey whale. Photo from http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epibiont Epibionts on a loggerhead sea turtle. Photo courtesy of Jared
Chrisp
Background & My Initial Ideas • Many surveys on other Southeastern US beaches • 1998 & 2004—Frick et al focused on Georgia • 2008—Pfaller et al focused on Florida
• No survey has ever been completed on Bald Head Island
Epibionts on a loggerhead sea turtle. Photo courtesy of Jared
Chrisp
Additional Background • Caine 1986—extremely in@luential paper for loggerhead epibionts • General survey of epibionts along latitudinal gradients in SC and FL
• Determined two different populations of of epibionts • Northern and southern populations separated between Flagler Beach and Cape Canaveral National Seashore
• Two populations of epibionts implies two populations of sea turtles
Map from Caine (1986)
Warming Oceans • Oceans have signi@icantly warmed since Caine completed his survey
• Sea surface temperatures have been higher in the past 3 decades than at any other time
• Large spike from 1970-‐present
Sea surface temperatures. Graph from EPA’s Climate Change Indicators (NOAA, 2012)
Hypothesis and Prediction • Hypothesis: Warming sea surface temperatures have impacted the locations of populations of epibionts that rely on loggerhead sea turtles for transportation
• Prediction: Both the ‘northern’ and ‘southern’ populations of epibionts as described by Caine in 1986 have migrated farther north in response to warming sea surface temperatures
Materials and Methods • Followed the same protocol as Caine in 1986 • 10x10cm quadrat • Simple knife • Vials @illed with 70% ethanol
Initial Observations • Huge numbers of these small shrimp-‐like invertebrates
Caprella andreae • Identi@ied this species as Caprella andreae, a type of skeleton shrimp
• Not a lot of information on this species • Attach themselves to moving objects (buoys, plants, wood, sea turtles) (Sezgin et al., 2008)
• Generally distributed in the Atlantic and Paci@ic Oceans and Mediterranean Sea (Sezgin et al., 2008)
Photo from Sezgin et al. (2008)
Indicator Species • 3 species speci@ic to the northern assemblage and 8 speci@ic to the southern assemblage
• C. andreae occurred on 97% of northern turtles and 96% of southern turtles (Caine, 1986) • Cannot use this species to determine if populations have migrated
Caine’s indicator species. From Caine (1986).
Future Studies • Plan to continue this study • Patrick has put me in contact with a invertebrate zoologist, Sherry Lee, who has offered to identify my samples
Acknowledgements I would like to thank Jaymie Reneker for helping me
plan out my project and Patrick Amico for providing me with all the necessary the materials as well as for putting me in contact with the invertebrate zoologist. Additionally I’d like to thank Mr. Eric Lazo-‐Wasem from the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History for helping identify C. andreae and Dr. Edsel Caine for speaking with me about his paper. Finally, I’d like to thank all the Sea Turtle Interns for helping with the collection of my samples.
References • Caine, E.A. (1986). Carapace Epibionts of Nesting Loggerhead Sea Turtles: Atlantic Coast of U.S.A. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 1, 15-‐26.
• Frick, M.G., Williams, K.L., Robinson, M. (1998). Epibionts Associated with Nesting Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta) in Georgia, USA. Herpetological Review. 29, 211-‐214.
• Frick, M.G., Williams, K.L., Markesteyn, E.J., Pfaller, J.B., Frick, R.E. (2004). New Records and Observations of Epibionts from Loggerhead Sea Turtles. Southeastern Naturalist. 3, 613-‐620.
• Pfaller, J.B., Frick, M.G., Reich, K.J., Williams, K.L., Bjorndal, K.A. (2008). Carapace Epibionts of loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) nesting at Canaveral National Seashore, Florida. Journal of Natural History. 13-‐14, 1095-‐1102.
• Sezgin, M., Ates, A.S., Katagan, T., Bakir, K., Yalçin Özdilek, S. (2009). Notes on amphipods Caprella andreae Mayer, 1890 and Podocerus chelonophilus (Chevreux & Guerne, 1888) collected from the loggerhead sea turtle, Caretta caretta, off the Mediterranean and the Aegean coasts of Turkey. Tubitak. 33, 433-‐437.
• NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). 2012. Extended reconstructed sea surface temperature (ERSST.v3b). National Climatic Data Center. Accessed April 2012.
QUESTIONS?