The document summarizes a study on the epibionts (organisms living on the surface of another) found on loggerhead sea turtle shells on Bald Head Island, NC. The author observed large numbers of the skeleton shrimp species Caprella andreae and plans to identify other epibiont species to determine if warming ocean temperatures have caused the northern and southern epibiont populations described in a past study to migrate farther north.

1. The
Epibionts
on
Caretta
caretta
Shells
on
Bald
Head
Island,
NC
Brenna
Gormally
2013
Sea
Turtle
Intern

2. Introduction
• Loggerhead
sea
turtles
are
known
for
having
a
wide
variety
of
@lora
and
fauna
that
live
on
their
carapaces
(Pfaller
et
al.
2008)
• Epibiont—any
organism
that
lives
on
the
surface
of
another
host
• Typically
neutralistic
or
commensalistic
relationship
Epibionts
on
the
surface
of
a
grey
whale.
Photo
from
http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epibiont
Epibionts
on
a
loggerhead
sea
turtle.
Photo
courtesy
of
Jared
Chrisp

3. Background
&
My
Initial
Ideas
• Many
surveys
on
other
Southeastern
US
beaches
• 1998
&
2004—Frick
et
al
focused
on
Georgia
• 2008—Pfaller
et
al
focused
on
Florida
• No
survey
has
ever
been
completed
on
Bald
Head
Island
Epibionts
on
a
loggerhead
sea
turtle.
Photo
courtesy
of
Jared
Chrisp

4. Additional
Background
• Caine
1986—extremely
in@luential
paper
for
loggerhead
epibionts
• General
survey
of
epibionts
along
latitudinal
gradients
in
SC
and
FL
• Determined
two
different
populations
of
of
epibionts
• Northern
and
southern
populations
separated
between
Flagler
Beach
and
Cape
Canaveral
National
Seashore
• Two
populations
of
epibionts
implies
two
populations
of
sea
turtles
Map
from
Caine
(1986)

5. Warming
Oceans
• Oceans
have
signi@icantly
warmed
since
Caine
completed
his
survey
• Sea
surface
temperatures
have
been
higher
in
the
past
3
decades
than
at
any
other
time
• Large
spike
from
1970-­‐present
Sea
surface
temperatures.
Graph
from
EPA’s
Climate
Change
Indicators
(NOAA,
2012)

6. Hypothesis
and
Prediction
• Hypothesis:
Warming
sea
surface
temperatures
have
impacted
the
locations
of
populations
of
epibionts
that
rely
on
loggerhead
sea
turtles
for
transportation
• Prediction:
Both
the
‘northern’
and
‘southern’
populations
of
epibionts
as
described
by
Caine
in
1986
have
migrated
farther
north
in
response
to
warming
sea
surface
temperatures

7. Materials
and
Methods
• Followed
the
same
protocol
as
Caine
in
1986
• 10x10cm
quadrat
• Simple
knife
• Vials
@illed
with
70%
ethanol

8. Initial
Observations
• Huge
numbers
of
these
small
shrimp-­‐like
invertebrates

9. Caprella
andreae
• Identi@ied
this
species
as
Caprella
andreae,
a
type
of
skeleton
shrimp
• Not
a
lot
of
information
on
this
species
• Attach
themselves
to
moving
objects
(buoys,
plants,
wood,
sea
turtles)
(Sezgin
et
al.,
2008)
• Generally
distributed
in
the
Atlantic
and
Paci@ic
Oceans
and
Mediterranean
Sea
(Sezgin
et
al.,
2008)
Photo
from
Sezgin
et
al.
(2008)

10. Indicator
Species
• 3
species
speci@ic
to
the
northern
assemblage
and
8
speci@ic
to
the
southern
assemblage
• C.
andreae
occurred
on
97%
of
northern
turtles
and
96%
of
southern
turtles
(Caine,
1986)
• Cannot
use
this
species
to
determine
if
populations
have
migrated
Caine’s
indicator
species.
From
Caine
(1986).

11. Future
Studies
• Plan
to
continue
this
study
• Patrick
has
put
me
in
contact
with
a
invertebrate
zoologist,
Sherry
Lee,
who
has
offered
to
identify
my
samples

12. Acknowledgements
I
would
like
to
thank
Jaymie
Reneker
for
helping
me
plan
out
my
project
and
Patrick
Amico
for
providing
me
with
all
the
necessary
the
materials
as
well
as
for
putting
me
in
contact
with
the
invertebrate
zoologist.
Additionally
I’d
like
to
thank
Mr.
Eric
Lazo-­‐Wasem
from
the
Yale
Peabody
Museum
of
Natural
History
for
helping
identify
C.
andreae
and
Dr.
Edsel
Caine
for
speaking
with
me
about
his
paper.
Finally,
I’d
like
to
thank
all
the
Sea
Turtle
Interns
for
helping
with
the
collection
of
my
samples.

13. References
• Caine,
E.A.
(1986).
Carapace
Epibionts
of
Nesting
Loggerhead
Sea
Turtles:
Atlantic
Coast
of
U.S.A.
Journal
of
Experimental
Marine
Biology
and
Ecology.
1,
15-­‐26.
• Frick,
M.G.,
Williams,
K.L.,
Robinson,
M.
(1998).
Epibionts
Associated
with
Nesting
Loggerhead
Sea
Turtles
(Caretta
caretta)
in
Georgia,
USA.
Herpetological
Review.
29,
211-­‐214.
• Frick,
M.G.,
Williams,
K.L.,
Markesteyn,
E.J.,
Pfaller,
J.B.,
Frick,
R.E.
(2004).
New
Records
and
Observations
of
Epibionts
from
Loggerhead
Sea
Turtles.
Southeastern
Naturalist.
3,
613-­‐620.
• Pfaller,
J.B.,
Frick,
M.G.,
Reich,
K.J.,
Williams,
K.L.,
Bjorndal,
K.A.
(2008).
Carapace
Epibionts
of
loggerhead
turtles
(Caretta
caretta)
nesting
at
Canaveral
National
Seashore,
Florida.
Journal
of
Natural
History.
13-­‐14,
1095-­‐1102.
• Sezgin,
M.,
Ates,
A.S.,
Katagan,
T.,
Bakir,
K.,
Yalçin
Özdilek,
S.
(2009).
Notes
on
amphipods
Caprella
andreae
Mayer,
1890
and
Podocerus
chelonophilus
(Chevreux
&
Guerne,
1888)
collected
from
the
loggerhead
sea
turtle,
Caretta
caretta,
off
the
Mediterranean
and
the
Aegean
coasts
of
Turkey.
Tubitak.
33,
433-­‐437.
• NOAA
(National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Administration).
2012.
Extended
reconstructed
sea
surface
temperature
(ERSST.v3b).
National
Climatic
Data
Center.
Accessed
April
2012.

14. QUESTIONS?