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Assessment of metal contamination levels and stress responses of endangered sea turtles of São Tomé and Principe

2018Conference object Open access
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dc.contributor.authorMorão, Inês F.
dc.contributor.authorNovais, Sara C.
dc.contributor.authorVieira, Sara
dc.contributor.authorBarata, Carlos
dc.contributor.authorPiña, Benjamin
dc.contributor.authorLemos, Marco F.L.
dc.date.accessioned2019-10-16T15:46:49Z
dc.date.available2019-10-16T15:46:49Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractSão Tomé Island harbors important sea turtle nesting and feeding sites. However, insufficient enforcement of environmental laws to avoid illegal take of nesting females and eggs, associated with a great lack of knowledge about how these species interact with their environment and how human activities impact their survival in the region, constitute significant challenges for sea turtle conservation. Through current local conservation projects, some information on genetics and nutrition of sea turtle populations is being unveiled but very little is known about how ocean pollution is impacting these turtles. The main objective of this study was to assess the metal concentrations accumulated by one species of S. Tomé sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) and infer about possible impacts of such contamination on their general stress responses and health status. More specifically, the final goal was to find correlations between metal concentrations and the expression of key genes involved in detoxification/sequestration and metal transport, antioxidant responses and oxidative stress, immunological responses, mitochondrial respiratory and energy production, among others, which could be indicative of these organisms health and future viability. To achieve these goals, nesting female turtles were sampled for blood, immediately after egg laying in their well-documented spawning sites in S. Tomé. Blood samples were withdrawn from the external jugular vein, a portion was stored in EDTA treated tubes at -20ºC until analysis of metal concentrations, and another portion was stored in RNAlater at -20°C until RNA extraction and gene expression analysis using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR). Additionally, body mass and carapace length were also recorded, along with all information regarding egg spawning and its success. Results showed significant correlations between expression of some genes and metal contaminant levels, pinpointing some candidate genes to be used as biomarkers of interest for biomonitoring campaigns, which worrying function highlights the need for a close follow-up of these organisms. This study represents the first attempt to address pollutant levels and the biological impairments of such stressors in these turtle species nesting in S. Tomé which, given their classification as endangered species (IUCN red list), is of paramount importance to contribute for conservation measures and management.pt_PT
dc.description.versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionpt_PT
dc.identifier.citationMorão, Inês & Novais, Sara & Vieira, Sara & Barata, Carlos & Piña, Benjami & Lemos, Marco. (2018). Assessment of metal contamination levels and stress responses of endangered sea turtles of São Tomé and Principe. Frontiers in Marine Science.pt_PT
dc.identifier.doi10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00074
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.8/4215
dc.language.isoengpt_PT
dc.peerreviewednopt_PT
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/pt_PT
dc.subjectBlood responsespt_PT
dc.subjectGene Expressionpt_PT
dc.subjectMetalspt_PT
dc.subjectOcean contaminationpt_PT
dc.subjectTurtlespt_PT
dc.titleAssessment of metal contamination levels and stress responses of endangered sea turtles of São Tomé and Principept_PT
dc.typeconference object
dspace.entity.typePublication
oaire.citation.titleIMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018pt_PT
person.familyNameMorão
person.familyNameNovais
person.familyNameLemos
person.givenNameInês
person.givenNameSara
person.givenNameMarco
person.identifier996337
person.identifier.ciencia-idBC11-4D98-D13A
person.identifier.ciencia-id2216-A2E0-A118
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-7329-2196
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-1306-3396
person.identifier.orcid0000-0001-9887-1864
person.identifier.ridA-9032-2012
person.identifier.ridF-7951-2011
person.identifier.scopus-author-id23025463300
person.identifier.scopus-author-id7006042884
rcaap.rightsopenAccesspt_PT
rcaap.typeconferenceObjectpt_PT
relation.isAuthorOfPublication6cc91494-964b-410c-8601-8c842491b824
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationde69a91d-24ba-4155-ad23-76367cca2232
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationf21e5540-df76-43e9-ad64-93edd70da1f1
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryf21e5540-df76-43e9-ad64-93edd70da1f1

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