Monitoring green turtle population dynamics in Shoalwater Bay 2000-2004

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency (QEPA) are pleased to publish this report on the monitoring of a foraging ground population for the southern Great Barrier Reef green turtle genetic stock

Biochemical and hematological reference intervals for Krefft’s turtles Emydura macquarii krefftii from the Burnett River Catchment, Australia

Biochemical and hematological reference intervals have not previously been reported for Emydura macquarii krefftii. In 2009, 56 E. m. krefftii were captured by hand from the Burnett Catchment, clinically assessed to determine health status and blood sampled. Reference intervals were calculated from the 35 clinically healthy turtles using techniques established in other chelonid species. Aberrant blood results were identified from the 21 clinically unhealthy turtles. Low numbers of observed cases of creatine kinase, glucose, magnesium, phosphorus and uric acid outside of the blood biochemistry reference interval were recorded, as were high numbers of observed cases of estimated eosinophils, thrombocytes and total leukocyte counts outside of the hematological reference interval. Lesions of the shell and plastron (shell rot) were observed in 38% (21/56) of the examined healthy and unhealthy turtles. Microbiological assessment of a subsample (n = 7) of these lesions grew Aeromonas veronii 100% (7/7), Aeromonas hydrophila 29% (2/7) and Acinetobacter baumannii 14% (1/7). Of the examined turtles, 13% (7/56) had evidence of opacity of the lens or anterior chamber of the eye and 70% (39/56) had erythema of the neck, axillary and inguinal soft tissues. Not all observed cases of erythema were associated with clinical ill-health. The anomalous blood results and clinical findings identified in this study suggest disease processes which may have resulted from causative agents in the surrounding environmen

Encouraging outlook for recovery of a once severely exploited marine megaherbivore

Aim: To critically review the status of the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) using the best available scientific studies as there is a prevailing view that this species is globally endangered and its marine ecosystem functions compromised. Location: Ogasawara (Japan), Hawaii (USA), Great Barrier Reef (Australia), Florida (USA), Tortuguero (Costa Rica). Methods: We compiled seasonal nesting activity data from all reliable continuous long-term studies (>.25 years), which comprised data series for six of the world's major green turtle rookeries. We estimated the underlying time-specific trend in these six rookery-specific nester or nest abundance series using a generalized smoothing spline regression approach. Results: Estimated rates of nesting population increase ranged from c. 4-14% per annum over the past two to three decades. These rates varied considerably among the rookeries, reflecting the level of historical exploitation. Similar increases in nesting population were also evident for many other green turtle stocks that have been monitored for shorter durations than the long-term studies presented here. Main conclusions: We show that six of the major green turtle nesting populations in the world have been increasing over the past two to three decades following protection from human hazards such as exploitation of eggs and turtles. This population recovery or rebound capacity is encouraging and suggests that the green turtle is not on the brink of global extinction even though some stocks have been seriously depleted and are still below historical abundance levels. This demonstrates that relatively simple conservation strategies can have a profound effect on the recovery of once-depleted green turtle stocks and presumably the restoration of their ecological function as major marine consumers. © 2007 The Authors Journal compilatio