Turtles for the Biology of Reptiles Amphibian Foundation Dr. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Turtles for the Biology of Reptiles Amphibian Foundation Dr. Tobias Landberg

The Flexible Organism

What causes diversity? Responding to challenges at different time scales Behavior Adaptation Plasticity Evolution

Where is variation from? P=G+E+G*E Phenotype Genotype Environment Interaction

Environment: Behavior

Environment: Physiological adaptation

Environment: Developmental plasticity What questions should we ask? Rhen, T. and Lang, J.W., 1995. Phenotypic plasticity for growth in the common snapping turtle: effects of incubation temperature, clutch, and their interaction. The American Naturalist , 146 (5), pp.726-747.

Genotype*Environment Interaction What questions should we ask? Schroeder, A.L., Metzger, K.J., Miller, A. and Rhen, T., 2016. A novel candidate gene for temperature-dependent sex determination in the common snapping turtle. Genetics , 203 (1), pp.557-571.

Evolution Lyson, T.R., Schachner, E.R., Botha-Brink, J., Scheyer, T.M., Lambertz, M., Bever, G.S., Rubidge, B.S. and De Queiroz, K., 2014. Origin of the unique ventilatory apparatus of turtles. Nature communications , 5 , p.5211.

Fused ribs Pectoral girdle Bojanus, 1819

Volume constraint

X-ray video during locomotion

Conclusion "That the locomotive movements may, and perhaps do at times modify the respiratory process, may be taken for granted. That other agents are constantly employed in this function is not less clear…" -Mitchell & Morehouse, 1863 Anatomy and Physiology of Respiration in the Chelonia

Remote Imaging Study of the Underwater Behavior of Snapping Turtles Tobias Landberg …with many coauthors Amphibian Foundation

Snapping turtle of myth and legend Record length 19.5” Record weight 86 pounds

What are snappers up to?

Crittercam development & evolution 2008 2015

Metabolic Hypotheses: Increased underwater activity reduces dive time Increased dive time increases surface time Active underwater behaviors increase surface time

Connecticut crittercam deployments 2008-2009

Success! Field work, research, weather, construction, navigation, diversity, identification, anatomy, physiology, animal care, teamwork, careers, resume writing, boat licenses...

Jawless?

Snapping turtle behavior 2008-2014 (14 turtles, ~930 dives, 56+ hours)) Elizabeth DePace Scientific Illustration ’16

Snapping turtle behavior 2008-2014 (14 turtles)

Dive duration is affected by behavior ANCOVA (p<0.001) Burrow Rest Eat Trap Walk Swim

Surface duration increases with Dive duration

Surface duration is affected by Dive behavior

Conclusion Dive time is limited by active behaviors Surface time increases with dive duration Active behaviors decrease surface time

What’s next? Turtle soup GRIESBACK, K*; HARTMAN, R; TOBE, S; SCOTT, K; LANDBERG, T Heavy Metal Contaminants in Snapping Turtle Soup from the Philadelphia Area Sunday, Jan. 6, 15:30 (Poster) Central Exhibit Hall P3-92 Ecotoxicology Zinc Mercury HARTMAN, R. A.*; GRIESBACK, K.; SCOTT, K. S.; TOBE, S.; LANDBERG, T. Heavy metal contamination of common snapping turtles in the Lower Delaware River watershed 15:30 Central Exhibit Hall P3-89 Blue Heron Nature Preserve Chromium Lead Nickel Copper

Heavy Metal Contaminants in Snapping Turtle Soup from the Philadelphia Area Kiersten Griesback, Ryan A Hartman, Shanan Tobe, Karen S Scott and Tobias Landberg Arcadia University kgriesback@arcadia.edu 
 Abstract Discussion Results Snapping turtle soup is a historic dish that remains a menu item in restaurants and taverns in the ● Zinc contamination: Philadelphia area. Unfortunately, heavy metals such as iron, lead, mercury and zinc are common in the ○ 1/9 samples aquatic environments where these turtles live, and these metals accumulate in turtle tissues through the Mercury (Hg) Analysis food web. Though heavy metals negatively affect their reproduction and recruitment, snapping turtles ○ 3x recommended daily intake (0.11 can survive in polluted environments. We examined snapping turtle meat as a food source due to its high potential to transfer acquired heavy metals to the humans that consume it. Samples of snapper soup were mg/kg for males and 0.14 mg/kg for acquired from restaurants throughout the lower Delaware River watershed in Pennsylvania (n=40). Meat, fish, and poultry typically contain a level of zinc around 29 ppm, while in vegetables it can be up to 2 females) ppm. Initial chemical analysis shows that several turtle meat samples contain a level of zinc greater than these values, and greater than the recommended daily intake value (8 mg per day or 0.11 mg/kg for females and 11 mg per day or 0.14 mg/kg for males). The zinc levels in the samples are not high enough ● Lead & Mercury: to cause toxicity independently, but combined with other zinc-containing foods consumed in the daily ● No Mercury (0/9) diet, turtle meat can contribute to greater overall zinc levels in the body. High zinc content can cause ○ 0/9 No detectable levels harmful physiological effects. While our other heavy metal analyses are ongoing, snappers may contain nearly all toxic metals– for which there are no safe levels of consumption. This, combined with ecological data showing that continued harvests of turtle populations for consumption is unsustainable, ● Negative values below ● Wild turtles: suggests that snapper soup may be detrimental to both humans and turtles. detection limit ○ long life spans Keywords: ecotoxicology, bioaccumulation, environmental pollutants, risk assessment ○ resilience in pollution ○ low reproduction ○ harvest unsustainable ○ vulnerable to extinction ○ accumulate heavy metals ● Future directions: Introduction ○ complete sample analysis ○ claws Lead (Pb) Analysis ● Turtle soup in Philadelphia ○ genetics ● Common snapping turtles ○ legislation ○ Chelydra serpentina ○ large size & long lifespan ○ environmental pollutants ● No Lead (0/9) ○ bioaccumulation of heavy metals ● Lower Delaware River Watershed ● Negative values below ● Harvested wild, USDA farmed & butchered detection limit ● Null hypothesis: Snapping turtle soup is safe ● Predictions: No zinc, mercury, and lead contaminants Methods Soup Collection: Acknowledgements Zinc (Zn) Analysis ● 30 mile radius of Arcadia University, PA Special thanks to Dr. Conte at Keystone College who was instrumental in acquiring these data. Also many thanks to Dr. Curotto in Arcadia’s Chemistry department for kind support and ● frozen Shannon McGrath, Amy Radzelovage, Emily Jerome for their help in the lab and field. ● N=9/48 Sample Preparation : ● Low Zinc (7/9) ● microwave References ● dissect meat from soup ● High Zinc (1/9) ● rinsed & patted dry (1) Burger, J. & Gibbons, J. (1998). Trace elements in egg contents and egg shells of slider turtles ● 35% nitric acid digestion ( Trachemys scripta ) from the Savannah River site. Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 34 , 382. ● filtered and diluted to 2% (2) Hopkins, B., Willson, J., Hopkins, W. (2013). Mercury exposure is associated with negative effects on with deionized water turtle reproduction. Environmental Science and Technology, 47 (5), 2416-22. (3) Ryan T, Peterman W, Stephens J, Sterrett S. (2014). Movement and habitat use of the snapping turtle in an urban landscape. Urban Ecosystems, 17 , 613-623. (4) Tchounwou, P., Yedjou, C., Patlolla, A., Sutton D. (2012). Heavy metal toxicity and the environment. EXS, 101, 133-64 (5) Yu, S., Halbrook, R., Sparling, D., Colombo, R. (2011). Metal accumulation and evaluation of effects in Sample Analysis: a freshwater turtle. Ecotoxicology, 20 , 1801–1812. (6) Zinc: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals. (2018). National Institutes of Health . Retrieved from https:// ● ICP-OES, courtesy of Jillian ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/ Conte at Keystone College