Blood and cloacal microbiome profile of captive green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata): Water quality and conservation implications

Ching XL 1 , Samsol S 2 , Rusli MU 3 , Aqmal-Naser M 4 , Bidai JA 5 , Sonne C 6 Show all authors , Wu X 7 , Ma NL 8

Affiliations 

  • 1 Bioses Research Interest Group, Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21030, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 2 Sea Turtle Research Unit (SEATRU), Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21030, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 3 Sea Turtle Research Unit (SEATRU), Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21030, Terengganu, Malaysia. Electronic address: uzair@umt.edu.my
  • 4 Terrestrial Ecology, Biodiversity and Aquatic Research (TEBAR), Institute of Tropical Biodiversity and Sustainable Development, University Malaysia of Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21030, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 5 Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21030, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 6 Aarhus University, Department of Ecoscience, Frederiksborgvej 399, DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark
  • 7 Institute of Subtropical Agriculture, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hunan Province, 410125, China
  • 8 Bioses Research Interest Group, Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, 21030, Terengganu, Malaysia; Department of Sustainable Engineering, Institute of Biotechnology, Saveetha School of Engineering, SIMATS, Chennai, 602105, India. Electronic address: nyukling@umt.edu.my
Chemosphere, 2025 Mar 05;375:144223.
PMID: 40049002 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2025.144223

Abstract

In this study, we studied the environment factors such as plastics and heavy metals affecting the blood and cloacal microbiome of green (Chelonia mydas) and hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) in captivity. By non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis, data has shown that the environment factors (p = 0.02), rather than species differences (p = 0.06), significantly influenced the composition of the cloacal microbiota of green and hawksbill turtles. The cloacal microbiota of both captive green and hawksbill turtles was dominated by several similar dominant phyla at differential abundance. Green turtles' cloacal microbiome was made up of 46% of Proteobacteria, 31% of Bacteroidota, 11% of Campylobacterota and 4% of Firmicutes, while the hawksbill turtles' cloacal microbiome was made up of 33% of Bacteroidota, 18% of Firmicutes, 17% of Proteobacteria, and 2% of Campylobacterota. Water conductivity, salinity, microplastic polymers (polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, polystyrene), and copper are positively associated (p 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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