Name: Juliana Santos Ferreira
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 09/03/2018
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Jean-Christophe Joyeux | Advisor * |
| Robson Guimarães dos Santos | Co-advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Angelo Fraga Bernardino | Internal Alternate * |
| Cecília Baptistotte | External Alternate * |
| Jean-Christophe Joyeux | Advisor * |
| Marcelo Renan de Deus Santos | External Examiner * |
| Robson Guimarães dos Santos | Co advisor * |
| Yuri Luiz Reis Leite | Internal Examiner * |
Summary: Coastal regions are among the most impacted and changed the world due to dense human occupation and their impact acumulatdos over the years. As a result, marine biodiversity has been suffering with direct deleterious effects. Among the marine species affected by human impacts, we can highlight the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), currently considered "endangered" by the IUCN. Centuries of anthropic impacts have led to a decline in these populations. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the impact of environmental degradation on populations of green turtles in areas with different levels of urbanization along the Brazilian coast, and to establish parameters that allow the use of this species in its juvenile stage, as an indicator of degradation coastal areas. The degree of urbanization in the study areas was determined by night-light (NL) data. Health parameters were evaluated populations of Chelonia mydas in each of these areas and through multiple linear regression analysis, we found that these parameters respond significantly to the degree of urbanization (R2 = 29.47%; p <0.01). Therefore, the more urbanized the environment, the worse the body condition score (p <0.01) more severe will be the fibropapillomatosis (p = 0.03), and lower the richness of their diet (p = 0.04). Our results show a significant response of the species to local environmental impacts, indicating that green turtle has great potential as a sentinel of environmental quality, especially through the use of severity scores of fibropapillomatosis, which is quick and easy to obtain, used worldwide, and which is a strong indicator of the health of green turtles.
Keywords: green turtle; urbanization; sentinel.
