A Little More About Marine Turtles

     During our stay at the Pawikan Conservation Center (PCC), we learned that our marine turtles are endangered due to continuous hunting for food and decorations.  In this post, we will shed light on the ecological importance of marine turtles and what the government is currently doing to help the pawikan.
                                                         

     The marine turtle is ecologically important because it affects both marine and beach ecosystems.  They maintain the numbers of certain marine animals including jellyfish, snails, crabs and shrimps by eating them.  They also trim sea grass, just like horses and cows trim field grass, keeping the grass healthy.  This in turn provides grass beds for breeding and development grounds for many species of fish, shell fish and crustaceans.  Marine turtle eggs also provide nutrients to beaches (since sand doesn't hold nutrients well), which make dune vegetation stronger and healthier.  This improves the health of the ecosystem and protects the beach from erosion.
                                                                     

     As most (if not all) readers know, the world's efforts for development have led to multiple environmental problems including Global Warming.  This is the increase in the overall temperature of the Earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the Greenhouse effect caused by the increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants.  As you can imagine, global warming affects many species of wildlife and one of the many species affected is the marine turtle.  Because of the rise in temperature, the polar ice caps are starting to melt, making sea levels rise.  With sea levels rising, the turtles lose their beach and nesting habitats.  Aside from this, weather extremes are now being experienced, including frequent and severe storms, which alter nesting beaches, cause beach erosion and flood sea turtle nests.  In addition, sand becomes hotter because of the increase in temperature.  This results in decreased hatching rates or complete nest failure.  The temperature increase also affects gender ratio as hotter temperature means more female hatchlings.  This means there won't be enough male turtles to fertilize most of the females, lessening the chances of a female laying eggs.  Last but not the least, the change in temperature also affects the migratory pattern of the turtles by altering currents and impacting distribution and abundance of prey..
                                                                       

     As 6th graders, our choices of helping are limited, though that doesn't mean we cannot help.  Sometimes, things we think won't help at all actually do help a lot.  For example, disposing of trash properly help keep our turtles alive by lessening the chances of marine turtles accidentally eating plastic or other objects they can choke on.  We can also help by trying to help keep our oceans and beaches clean with the method mentioned earlier.  This way, turtles will be given a better chance of surviving and completing their life cycle.  Another way of helping is by volunteering (during summer/semester break) at a conservation center or other groups which aim to help marine turtles survive.
                                                                   

Sources:
http://www.conserveturtles.org/seaturtleinformation.php?page=whycareaboutseaturtles 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
http://www.seeturtles.org/1380/global-warming.html