Declining Population of Loggerhead Sea Turtle
The title of this paper is pretty self explanatory and the facts are simple. The solution is feasible but yet, not enough action is being taken to make a difference. You would think that we as humans being the dominate creatures of the earth, would be able to understand the simplicity of knowing the negative effects of our carelessness and the impact it has on the creatures around us…Creatures that are close to defenseless when put in comparison with mankind. I didn’t want there to be a great mystery surrounding what my presentation is about because there doesn’t have to be. Most people either don’t know or don’t care about the declining population of the loggerhead sea turtles. While I can not change the attitude of a person who is apathetic, I can help increase the knowledge of a person who is ignorant about this subject. Ignorance would be a very good word to describe my amount of knowledge in this area before I began this study on loggerhead sea turtles. The saddest part of this story is that we as humans are too involved with ourselves and concerned about our own wellbeing. We will not take the time to step back and wonder how the creatures of this world are “getting along”. If we could just forget about ourselves for one minute and try to help out the creatures that are continually struggling to survive the negative effects that our growing and careless population has placed on them. Even though loggerheads are the most common of all sea turtle species found on the United States coasts, recent studies have show that this amazing turtle population is in steep decline and will be in danger if we do not begin to find out why its population is declining and what we can do to reverse this effect. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature listed the loggerhead as threatened in 1978. This means that the loggerhead has been considered "vulnerable for becoming extinct" for thirty years because of the number of turtles left. Recent studies of loggerhead population have found that the number of females that nest in the Southeastern United States is continuing to decline at an alarmingly rapid rate. The United States Federal Government has reported that the loggerhead turtle population decline is not just something to be concerned about in one area of the world but it is a world wide problem.
Throughout the animal kingdom, adaptations take place continuously and even the smallest of changes can leave a significant impact. Examples can be seen within any plant or animal. One example would include sea turtles, specifically, the Loggerhead Turtles. These turtles are native to the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea (Deurmit L 2007). They thrive in either temperate or tropical climates and can live in a myriad of biomes (Deurmit L 2007). These biomes include the pelagic, reef, coastal, and brackish water (Deurmit L 2007). Loggerhead turtles are omnivores and can eat anything from insects to aquatic crustaceans, to macro algae (Deurmit L 2007). According to Deurmit (2007) Caretta caretta is classified into Animalia Kingdom, Chordata Phylum, Vertebrata Subphylum, Reptilian Class, Testudines’ Order,
Within the state of Florida there are dozens of individualized, non-profit organizations making an effort to help the local wildlife. The local land and marine wildlife includes birds, geckos, frogs, snakes, panthers, manatees, sea turtles, fishes, sharks, corals, lizards and many, many more. Florida State is located on the Southeastern tip of the United States providing a unique opportunity for conservation of salt-water animals. While there are animal conservation efforts taking place all over the world, this essay will focus on two animal species that humans are specifically trying to save in Florida State. The two main animal species of focus are manatees and sea turtles.
The poem Mark O’Connor wrote “Turtles Hatching” at a time in his life when was closely studying nature.
...rients and balance sea floor sediments. Many environmental and government run programs have been created to help the efforts of saving sea turtles. Some of the actions include making mass fishing companies use safer methods to prevent catching turtles, ordinances that control lighting along beachside properties, and small groups protecting nests from their creation to hatching. In addition to these measures, wire mesh gratings are put over the nests in order to protect them from being scavenged by foxes (Kurz, Straley, Degregorio, 2011). Although these efforts do make a positive impact, loggerhead’s migration patterns are so vast and worldwide that it is almost impossible to truly enforce conservation efforts. This is because sometimes they can be seen as an “inconvenience”. It is important that we strive to protect this important component of the ocean’s ecosystem.
The green sea turtles have been taken out of the Atlantic Ocean for several years, so now they are an endangered species. Today, the green sea turtles population is growing and in the Florida Refuge they counted up to over 12,000 turtle nests. It is shocking to see how much the refuges care about the green sea turtles. They have been looking out for the turtles for 35 years. It was interesting to find out that these green sea turtles live for a really long time. It takes the turtles 25 years just to mature. This article caught my eye because I love science and animals. Knowing that people are taking care of what used to be endangered animals really means a lot to me. I hate seeing animals hurt or struggling to survive. Because of the refuges
The Chelonia mydas, also known as the Hawaiian green sea turtle, or as Honu here in Hawaii, have roamed the oceans for millions of years. Forty years ago this beautiful species was almost completely removed from this earth, but was saved by the U.S. endangered species act of 1973. These magnificent creatures can now be found in abundance in the coastal strand and open ocean biomes of the North shore in Oahu, Hawaii. The green sea turtles occupy different habitats such as; beaches for nesting, open ocean convergence zones and coastal areas for benthic feeding. Unlike other sea turtles, the Honu don’t only use the beaches for nesting, they use them for thermoregulation in the sun. These green sea turtles have behaviors and characteristics
What threats are towards these turtles? While the Green sea turtle faces many threats including habitat loss and human activity such as commercial fishing, the highest impact towards the Green sea turtles is the overharvesting
Introduction Caretta caretta, otherwise known as the Loggerhead Sea Turtle, is an oceanic turtle that exist throughout the globe. They are circumtropical species (LeBlanc et al. 2014) meaning they are distributed throughout temperate and tropical ocean regions, but most abundant species are found in the United States coastal range. Loggerheads largest nesting aggregations in the Atlantic are found along the southeastern United States coastal range where about 80% of all nesting occurs and 90% of all hatchlings are produced (Abecassis et al. 2013).
Fresh Water turtles are small, yet amazing creatures to have and care for in your home. River Cooters, Red Eared Sliders, and Painted turtles are all common pet’s found in America. Though turtles are fun to have around they do require special care just like any other pet would. In most cases they make great pets but turtles aren’t the easiest pets to have so depending on your lifestyle you should think about how much time you’re willing to put into a turtle. They are usually cheap to buy yet the equipment for your turtle can get expensive. Along with cost you must find the time to put into this pet. They need nice set ups to live in as well as attention and proper handling.
The beauty of life becomes apparent from the tail end of a five hundred pound turtle. Crouching uncomfortably, my hands under her cloaca, I caught the eggs. Each made a subtle ‘plop’ as each cue ball-shaped egg exited the safety her womb and found its new home in the plastic bag held between my hands. It was a frigid January night in Costa Rica, and I was working with The Leatherback Trust to relocate the eggs of the highly endangered leatherback turtle in order to ensure they were safe from environmental harm. My cohorts and I worked tirelessly, patrolling the beach for hours on end in the darkness of the night to find the rare vulnerable turtle making her tire-track trail up the wet sand of the beach to her final nesting place.
It was at a young age that I fell in love with the ocean and the splendor of its biodiversity. It was when I gazed upon the magnificent blue waters of the world that I found my passion. At this young age, I decided that I would pursue a path that involved helping endangered marine organisms. Many conclude that I speak of the more common marine animals, such as dolphins and whales. However, that is not the case. My passion lies with the “Rainforests of the Sea”, the coral reefs.
Oceans are such so vast that people underestimate the impact their actions —seeming so insignificant— have on them. Humans have by and large taken the oceans for granted; not considering how important a healthy ocean is to our survival. A popular mind-set is that the oceans are a bottomless supply of fish, natural resources, and an infinite waste dump. There are myriad reasons why the oceans should be saved and the most obvious one is marine life. With 71% of the Earth being covered by water, it is obvious that sea creatures are predominant form of life, making up 80% of the species of life on Earth. However, as important as marine life is, that is not the only reason why saving the oceans is crucial. The ocean floor provides natural resources such as, oil, natural gas, petroleum, minerals, medications, and ingredients for foods and products. The economic benefits of the oceans are huge and significant, as well. Fishing and fish products have provided employment to 38 million people and have generated about $124 billion in economic benefits. However, oceans are on the verge of crisis, marine life, natural resources, transportation, the economy, and important ingredients are at risk due to overfishing, pollution, and acidification. Thus, in this essay I will argue that, oceans are not impervious to human activity and threatening the health of the ocean threatens the health of humanity, since oceans key to our survival.
Did you know that more than 90 percent of all organisms that have ever lived on Earth are extinct? According to Pandey, the author of Humans Pushing Marine Life toward ‘Major Extinction’, nearly 10,000 species go extinct each year, and this rate is estimated to be 1,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate (1). Human beings are causing irreversible damage to the oceans and their wildlife, which is being led by two major reasons: Commercial fishing or over-fishing, which damaged the marine environment and caused a loss in the marine life diversity, and pollution, which is a primary way of the extinction causes that drastically modifies the marine life habitat. As a result of the commercial fishing and pollution, many of the marine species will start disappearing of the oceans. Briggs emphasizes that over-fishing “has induced population collapses in many species. So instead of having less than a hundred species at risk, as was the case some 30-40 years ago, there are now a thousand or more (10).”
Pollution from human activities brings forth danger to the different species of animals and plants to become extinct. There are five threats examined in the authors’ researches; habitat destruction, pollution, alien species, farms, and disease. Over time, pollution, destruction, diseases have destroyed the natural habitats and homes of species such as birds, fish, plants, and animals. The science of how species become extinct come from the over harvesting of crops, which places a threat on our birds and plants due to the pesticide pollution. The Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973 was enacted by Congress to minimize treats and protect the endangered species. The United States face a dilemma when it comes to protecting the listed endangered species. Animals such as the bald eagle, Florida panther, gray wolf, grizzly bear, red-cockaded woodpecker, are just a few of the listed endangered species. Overview of threats is categorized in five types; habitat destruction, the spread of alien species, overharvest of farms, pollution and disease.
The problem I have chosen is the problem of endangered species. An endangered species is a group of organisms that have a risk of becoming extinct. More than 90% of all species that have ever lived on earth has become extinct. Many reasons for this are habitat loss, predators, too few organisms for sustainable reproduction. Habitat loss is the most widespread cause of species endangerment and extinction. Usually, this is happening because of human activity including deforestation and pollution. Pollution and climate change affect the ecosystem, resulting in rise of sea levels, melting of glaciers/ice caps, and pollution can cause death to many seabirds and and marine creatures living on the coast and in the ocean. Rising sea levels can