Reproductive seasonality and trend of Chelonia mydas in the SW Indian Ocean: a 20 yr study based on track counts

The green turtle Chelonia mydas is classified as endangered because of global declines over the past few centuries due to human exploitation and habitat destruction, particularly the loss of nesting areas. We used the number of tracks as an indicator of breeding female abundance at their nesting sites to study the seasonality and trends of turtles breeding at 3 islands in the SW Indian Ocean: Europa, Tromelin and Grande Glorieuse, over 20 yr. On Tromelin, tracks were counted along the entire nesting beach, but on Europa and Grande Glorieuse counts were limited to a proportion of the island. Europa and Tromelin exhibited similar seasonal patterns, with a well-defined peak during the wet season (November–February), compared to a dry season peak for Grande Glorieuse (March–June). The main season was significantly longer on Grande Glorieuse (288 ± 43 d) than on Europa (218 ± 60 d), with Tromelin intermediate (252 ± 43 d). There was greater variation in the start of a season compared to the median and end at all sites throughout the study. Approximately 7178 ± 3053 (n = 19) tracks were recorded annually on the entire nesting beach on Tromelin, compared with 1480 ± 666 (n = 19) on 16% of nesting beaches on Grande Glorieuse and 1361 ± 903 (n = 23) on 26% of beaches on Europa. The number of tracks has increased significantly on Europa (3% yr–1) and Grande Glorieuse (6% yr–1). The increasing number of nesting turtles illustrates the effectiveness of conservation measures on sites formerly exploited by humans

Monoclonal antibodies against Bonamia ostreae (Protozoa: Ascetospora), an intra-haemocytic parasite of flat oyster Ostrea edulis (Mollusca: Bivalvia)

The protozoan Bonamia ostreae (Ascetospora), a paasite of the flat oyster Ostrea edulis, was purified by differential and isopycnic centrifugations. Mice of the strain Balb/c were immunized with purified parasites and hybridomas were prepared by fusion of immunized mouse splenocytes with the mouse myeloma cell line P3-X63-Ag8-653. From the fusion, 12 clones were isolated and saved. The resulting antibodies were characterized with a solid phase radioimmunoassay (RIA). Antibodies from 7 clones reacted only with B. ostreae and not with normal host tissue. Although some of the antibiodies identified. One of these antibodies (20B2-1B12) has an apparent association constant of ca 3 X 10(8) M-1 and bound to a number of different sites on the parasite. These monoclonal antibodies should prove to be of great value as diagnostic and research tools

Phylogeography of the green turtle, Chelonia mydas, in the Southwest Indian Ocean

Patterns of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation were used to analyse the population genetic structure of southwestern Indian Ocean green turtle (Chelonia mydas) populations. Analysis of sequence variation over 396 bp of the mtDNA control region revealed seven haplotypes among 288 individuals from 10 nesting sites in the Southwest Indian Ocean. This is the first time that Atlantic Ocean haplotypes have been recorded among any Indo-Pacific nesting populations. Previous studies indicated that the Cape of Good Hope was a major biogeographical barrier between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans because evidence for gene flow in the last 1.5 million years has yet to emerge. This study, by sampling localities adjacent to this barrier, demonstrates that recent gene flow has occurred from the Atlantic Ocean into the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope. We also found compelling genetic evidence that green turtles nesting at the rookeries of the South Mozambique Channel (SMC) and those nesting in the North Mozambique Channel (NMC) belong to separate genetic stocks. Furthermore, the SMC could be subdivided in two different genetic stocks, one in Europa and the other one in Juan de Nova. We suggest that this particular genetic pattern along the Mozambique Channel is attributable to a recent colonization from the Atlantic Ocean and is maintained by oceanic conditions in the northern and southern Mozambique Channel that influence early stages in the green turtle life cycle