Coastal waters of Florida’s Big Bend, Gulf of Mexico (GOM) once supported one of the largest sea turtle fisheries in the United States. To fill an information gap in this region on abundance and distribution of sea turtles, we used vessel—based distance sampling and active capture methods to characterize current foraging aggregations near the St. Martins Marsh Aquatic Preserve. Over 10 sampling periods between 2012—2018, we completed 513 km of transects and recorded 819 turtles among 4 species—green turtle (Chelonia mydas, n = 624), Kemp’s ridley (Lepidochelys kempii, n = 147), loggerhead (Caretta caretta, n = 47), and a single hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata). Turtle densities in 4 study plots within the 200 km2 study site ranged from 57—221 immature green turtles/km2, 16—56 immature Kemp’s ridleys/km2, and 1—14 juvenile—to—adult loggerheads/km2. Of 200 green turtles captured, 67.5% showed skin tumors consistent with fibropapillomatosis, a frequency similar to that from urbanized estuaries of Florida’s east coast. The largest green turtles (> 60 cm straight standard carapace length), abundant in the southern portion of our study area, are of note because this size class is uncommonly recorded within US territorial waters. Analyses of green turtle mtDNA haplotypes found contributions from rookeries in the western GOM, Mexican Caribbean, and Costa Rica. Although Big Bend protected areas were principally designed to conserve marine and coastal habitats, these regulatory zones have also effectively encompassed a hotspot for foraging sea turtles.

Chelonid alphaherpesviruses 5 and 6 (ChHV5 and ChHV6) are viruses that affect wild sea turtle populations. ChHV5 is associated with the neoplastic disease fibropapillomatosis (FP), which affects green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in panzootic proportions. ChHV6 infection is associated with lung-eye-trachea disease (LETD), which has only been observed in maricultured sea turtles, although antibodies to ChHV6 have been detected in free-ranging turtles. To better understand herpesvirus prevalence and host immunity in various green turtle foraging aggregations in Florida, USA, our objectives were to compare measures of innate and adaptive immune function in relation to (1) FP tumor presence and severity, and (2) ChHV5 and ChHV6 infection status. Free-ranging, juvenile green turtles (N = 45) were captured and examined for external FP tumors in Florida’s Big Bend, Indian River Lagoon, and Lake Worth Lagoon. Blood samples were collected upon capture and analyzed for ChHV5 and ChHV6 DNA, antibodies to ChHV5 and ChHV6, in vitro lymphocyte proliferation using a T-cell mitogen (concanavalin A), and natural killer cell activity. Despite an overall high FP prevalence (56%), ChHV5 DNA was only observed in one individual, whereas 20% of turtles tested positive for antibodies to ChHV5. ChHV6 DNA was not observed in any animals and only one turtle tested positive for ChHV6 antibodies. T-cell proliferation was not significantly related to FP presence, tumor burden, or ChHV5 seroprevalence; however, lymphocyte proliferation in response to concanavalin A was decreased in turtles with severe FP (N = 3). Lastly, green turtles with FP (N = 9) had significantly lower natural killer cell activity compared to FP-free turtles (N = 5). These results increase our understanding of immune system effects related to FP and provide evidence that immunosuppression occurs after the onset of FP disease.

Conservation efforts for endangered sea turtle species, such as Kemp’s ridley turtles Lepidochelys kempii and green turtles Chelonia mydas, may benefit from information on the microbial communities that contribute to host health. Previous studies examining host-associated microbiomes of these species have been limited in geographic region, life stage, and/or health. Here, we characterized the microbiome of the oral cavity and cloaca from wild-captured Kemp’s ridley and green turtles off the west coast of Florida, USA, by using Illumina sequencing to analyze the 16S rRNA gene. Microbial communities were distinct between body sites as well as between turtle species, suggesting that the turtle species is more important than the local environment in determining the microbiome of sea turtles. We identified the core microbiome for each species at each body site and determined that there were very few bacteria shared among the oral samples of both species, and no taxa co-occurred in the cloaca samples among both species. The core microbiome of the green turtle cloaca was primarily from the order Clostridiales, which plays an important role in digestion for other herbivorous species. Due to high prevalence of fibropapillomatosis in the green turtles (90%), we also investigated the correlation between the microbiome and the severity of fibropapillomatosis, and we identified changes in beta diversity associated with the total number of tumors. This study provides the first glimpse of the microbiome in 2 sympatric species of sea turtle and sheds an important species-specific light on the microbiome of these endangered species.

Blood was collected from wild captured green and Kemp's ridley turtles off the west coast of Florida, USA. Blood gases and biochemical values were analyzed using a point of care (POC) device in the field. Analytes include pH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO 2), partial pressure of oxygen (pO 2), total carbon dioxide (TCO 2), bicarbonate (HCO 3), base excess (BE), oxygen saturation (sO 2), lactate, sodium (Na), potassium (K), chloride (Cl), total carbon dioxide (TCO 2), anion gap, ionized calcium, glucose, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Crea), hematocrit (Hct), and hemoglobin (Hb). These are novel data for wild healthy Kemp's ridley turtles, and results for green turtles were generally consistent with past studies of green turtles with exceptions primarily in blood gas values. Ninety percent of the green turtles had fibropapillomatosis (FP), but none of the blood analytes were correlated with disease severity. Only BUN was correlated with weight of green turtles, and there was no correlation between blood parameters and weight of Kemp's ridley turtles. This study provides data that are useful in understanding the physiologic status of sea turtles specific to this region, allowing for comparisons to other populations, life stages, and disease states.

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