Development of a Summarized Health Index (SHI) for Use in Predicting Survival in Sea Turtles

Abstract

Veterinary care plays an influential role in sea turtle rehabilitation, especially in endangered species. Physiological characteristics, hematological and plasma biochemistry profiles, are useful references for clinical management in animals, especially when animals are during the convalescence period. In this study, these factors associated with sea turtle surviving were analyzed. The blood samples were collected when sea turtles remained alive, and then animals were followed up for surviving status. The results indicated that significantly negative correlation was found between buoyancy disorders (BD) and sea turtle surviving (p < 0.05). Furthermore, non-surviving sea turtles had significantly higher levels of aspartate aminotranspherase (AST), creatinine kinase (CK), creatinine and uric acid (UA) than surviving sea turtles (all p < 0.05). After further analysis by multiple logistic regression model, only factors of BD, creatinine and UA were included in the equation for calculating summarized health index (SHI) for each individual. Through evaluation by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, the result indicated that the area under curve was 0.920 ± 0.037, and a cut-off SHI value of 2.5244 showed 80.0% sensitivity and 86.7% specificity in predicting survival. Therefore, the developed SHI could be a useful index to evaluate health status of sea turtles and to improve veterinary care at rehabilitation facilities.

Determining body condition of nesting loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) in the South-west Indian Ocean

“…By contrast, quantifying the health state of an individual refers to its physiological state and would require a more intensive veterinary assessment, including blood testing (for haematological levels, plasma biochemistry, pathogen sampling etc.) (Li et al ., 2015). It is therefore often not logistically feasible to address the health of wild animals directly, but instead use indicators and proxies, such as body condition to assess if a population thrives or diminishes based on the health of its individuals (Stevenson & Woods, 2006).…”

Crude Oil and Dispersant Cause Acute Clinicopathological Abnormalities in Hatchling Loggerhead Sea Turtles (Caretta caretta)

“…Survival of cold-stunned Kemp's ridleys is lower for turtles presenting with higher plasma uric acid, potassium and phosphorus (32). Plasma uric acid concentration was one of three main determinants of survival in a multispecies model of rehabilitating sea turtles in Taiwan, along with plasma creatinine and presence or absence of a buoyancy disorder (33). Plasma potassium was one of three main determinants in a model of mortality probability for cold-stunned Kemp's ridleys, along with pH and pO 2 (34).…”

Lapita Archaeology in the Southwest Pacific

“…These changes have been attributed to internal processes (Sand 2010), whereas some archaeologists argue for later migrations from Near to Remote Oceania by "Melanesian" groups who introduced new pottery traditions and other cultural practices, including new burial practices, while others tend to favor diffusion (Burley 2013). In western Polynesia (Tonga, Samoa, Futuna, ʻUvea, and Niua [Niuatoputapu and Niuafo'ou]), pottery becomes plain before disappearing from the archaeological record by about 1550 cal BP (Burley et al 2015). Although a few plain sherds have been found in the Cook Islands and the Marquesas in eastern Polynesia (Dickinson et al 1998), it is widely accepted that contemporaneous societies in western Polynesia had largely abandoned pottery-making by the time people ventured to the central archipelagoes of eastern Polynesia, whose chronology is still debated (Kirch 2017: 212;Sear et al 2020).…”