a script and a powerpoint about a marine specie

SCRIPT_Example_Species_Project1.docx

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Slide 1: Hello, I’m Sara and I’ve chosen Hawksbill Sea Turtles as my species.

Slide 2: Hawksbill sea turtles are one of seven sea turtle species, and they are found in tropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans (NOAA 2020). They are a beautiful brownish-red color and have a beak-like mouth that is used for eating a lot of animals on coral reefs, but much of what they eat are sponges (NOAA 2020). Sponges can have a hard surface, so the beak-like mouth helps to grab and crush the outer surface of corals (NOAA 2020). Hawksbill sea turtles weigh up to 75 kilograms or 165 pounds, and they reach sexual maturity around 25 years of age (NOAA 2020). Its unknown how long they live in the wild but likely to approximately 100 years old (NOAA 2020). Female hawksbills lay their eggs on the same beach they were born, and in a single season, they lay eggs 4-5 times (FWS 2018). Each time they lay eggs, there are between 140 and 200 eggs laid in what is known as a ‘clutch’ (FWS 2018).

Slide 3: The focus biology topic that I chose was that hawksbills have the unique feeding strategy of eating sponges – known as being a spongivore. For example, juvenile hawksbills spend about most of their time in and around reefs, and sponges account for approximately 67% of their diet (Becker et al. 2019, Leon and Bjorndal 2002). Eating sponges doesn’t just benefit the turtle, however. By eating so many sponges, hawksbills regulate sponge populations on reefs (Mortimer and Donnely 2008). Sponges multiply quickly and can take over reef systems, so hawksbills help to keep their populations in check (Mortimer and Donnely 2008). When they aren’t eating sponges, hawksbills will eat reef-dwelling fish, crustaceans and algae (NOAA 2020).

Slide 4: Hawksbills, like other sea turtles, face a number of threats. They are considered to be critically endangered by the IUCN (Mortimer and Donnely 2008). The other threats they face include coral reef destruction, and subsequent loss of food as a result, habitat destruction and bycatch from fisheries, humans harvesting eggs for food and cultural means, and the turtle shell trade (Mortimer and Donnely 2008, Gaos et al 2012, Hamilton et al 2015, NOAA 2020).

Slide 5: If you’ve ever hear the term ‘tortoiseshell’ like ‘tortoiseshell glasses’, then what the shell is referring too is actually the shell of a hawksbill turtle. Their shells are exceptionally beautiful and they have been exploited for their shells for decades, and used for making luxury items, trinkets and jewelry (Mortimer and Donnely 2008). It was okay to harvest hawksbills for their shells until the 1970s, which resulted in a rapid decline in hawksbill populations because of the value of the tortoiseshell. Even though harvesting and trade of tortoise shell is illegal both across country boundaries and in most countries, illegal harvesting and trade does still continue (NOAA 2020).

Slide 6: The Solomon Islands in the South Pacific is a large breeding grounds for hawksbills, and the government has been implementing extensive conservation efforts for Hawksbills, and these efforts are working (Hamilton et al 2015)! Since banning the take and trade of hawksbills shells in 1991, at rockeries in the Solomon Islands the number of nests per season have doubled which you can see in this graphy (Hamilton et al 2015). Additionally, researchers are using satellite tracking to determine where hawksbills go when they migrate and if we need to create new protected areas or expand existing ones (Gaos et al 2012).