Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University, 5600 US Highway 1, Fort Pierce, FL, USA.
Department of Comparative, Diagnostic, and Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, 2015 SW 16th Avenue, Gainesville, FL, USA.
J Comp Physiol B. 2022 Nov;192(6):751-764. doi: 10.1007/s00360-022-01450-9. Epub 2022 Aug 7.
The ability of sea turtle hatchlings to survive into adulthood is related, in part, to their individual health status. Documenting a variety of health data is essential for assessing individual and population health. In this study, we report health indices for 297 green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) hatchlings that emerged from 32 nests deposited on Juno Beach, Florida, USA in June-July, 2017. Results of physical examination, morphometrics, and infectious disease testing (chelonid alphaherpesvirus 5, ChHV5), and blood analyte reference intervals (hematology, plasma protein, glucose) are presented. Carapacial scute abnormalities were observed in 36% (108/297) of all hatchlings, including abnormal vertebral (86/297, 29%), lateral (72/297, 24%), and both vertebral and lateral (50/297, 17%) scutes. Hatchlings from nests laid in July, which was ~ 1.6 °C warmer than June, had significantly shorter incubation periods, and higher body mass, straight carapace length, body condition index, packed cell volume, and heterophil:lymphocyte ratios compared to hatchlings from nests laid in June. These results suggest that incubation temperatures are linked to hatchling developmental factors and size, nutritional and/or hydration status, and/or blood cell dynamics. Blood samples from all 297 hatchlings tested negative for ChHV5 DNA via quantitative PCR, including 86 hatchlings from the nests of 11 adult females that tested positive for ChHV5 via qPCR or serology in a separate study, lending support to the hypothesis that ChHV5 is horizontally (rather than vertically) transmitted among green turtles. Information resulting from this study represents a useful dataset for comparison to future health assessment and population monitoring studies of green turtle hatchlings in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
海龟幼体能否存活至成年与其个体健康状况有关。记录各种健康数据对于评估个体和群体健康至关重要。在这项研究中，我们报告了 297 只绿海龟（Chelonia mydas）幼体的健康指数，这些幼体于 2017 年 6 月至 7 月在佛罗里达州朱诺海滩（Juno Beach）的 32 个巢穴中孵化。我们介绍了体格检查、形态测量和传染病检测（龟疱疹病毒 5，ChHV5）的结果，以及血液分析物参考区间（血液学、血浆蛋白、葡萄糖）。在所有 297 只幼体中，有 36%（108/297）观察到甲壳异常，包括异常的椎骨（297 只中的 86 只，29%）、侧甲（297 只中的 72 只，24%）和椎骨和侧甲（297 只中的 50 只，17%）。7 月孵化的幼体比 6 月孵化的幼体孵化期明显缩短，且体重、甲壳长度、身体状况指数、红细胞压积和异嗜性粒细胞与淋巴细胞比值更高。这些结果表明，孵化温度与幼体发育因素和大小、营养和/或水合状态以及/或血细胞动力学有关。通过定量 PCR 检测，所有 297 只幼体的血液样本均未检测到 ChHV5 DNA，包括在另一项研究中通过 qPCR 或血清学检测为 ChHV5 阳性的 11 只成年雌海龟的巢穴中的 86 只幼体，这支持了 ChHV5 是在绿海龟之间水平（而非垂直）传播的假说。本研究的结果为未来在北大西洋绿海龟幼体的健康评估和种群监测研究中提供了一个有用的数据集。
