Journal
CHEMOSPHERE
Volume 84, Issue 5, Pages 544-552Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.04.023
Keywords
Coastal urbanization; Contaminant; Chelonia mydas; Habitat quality; Sea turtle; San Diego Bay
Categories
Funding
- Port of San Diego
- PADI Foundation
- Southern California Academy of Sciences
- Edna Bailey Sussman Foundation
- San Diego State University
- NMFS Southwest Fisheries Sciences Center
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- Direct For Education and Human Resources [0841297] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Graduate Education [0841297] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Rapid expansion of coastal anthropogenic development means that critical foraging and developmental habitats often occur near highly polluted and urbanized environments. Although coastal contamination is widespread, the impact this has on long-lived vertebrates like the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is unclear because traditional experimental methods cannot be applied. We coupled minimally invasive sampling techniques with health assessments to quantify contaminant patterns in a population of green turtles resident to San Diego Bay, CA, a highly urbanized and contaminated estuary. Several chemicals were correlated with turtle size, suggesting possible differences in physiological processes or habitat utilization between life stages. With the exception of mercury, higher concentrations of carapace metals as well as 4,4'-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) and gamma chlordane in blood plasma relative to other sea turtle studies raises important questions about the chemical risks to turtles resident to San Diego Bay. Mercury concentrations exceeded immune function no-effects thresholds and increased carapace metal loads were correlated with higher levels of multiple health markers. These results indicate immunological and physiological effects studies are needed in this population. Our results give insight into the potential conservation risk contaminants pose to sea turtles inhabiting this contaminated coastal habitat, and highlight the need to better manage and mitigate contaminant exposure in San Diego Bay. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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