Grant: 24-001C
Project Title: Potential role as endocrine disruptors of chemicals associated with plastic
Project Manager: Sarah Milton
Organization: Florida Atlantic University (Research and Educational Institute)
Grant Amount: $10,408.65
Completion Date:
Summary: Plastic production and pollution has increased over the decades to astonishing levels. Plastics can be ingested by marine life and negatively affect health and well-being, causing concern for IUCN vulnerable or endangered organisms like sea turtles. Direct and indirect plastic ingestion can affect sea turtle health through gut compaction, gut perforation, and/or chemical leaching. Over time, plastic will degrade into smaller pieces called microplastics. Chemicals associated with plastics and microplastics have been identified in the tissues of sea turtles, and some are suspected endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), however, this has been little studied. This study aims to determine if chemical toxins from plastics found in sea turtle tissues may be potential EDCs in gonadal tissues. Fat, gonads, and liver samples are being collected from freshly dead or euthanized loggerhead (Caretta caretta) and green (Chelonia mydas) turtles from sea turtle rehabilitation facilities around Florida. This study will determine if the main chemicals associated with plastics, including BPA and phthalates, have the potential to bind to and thus act as agonists or antagonists to hormone receptors in the gonads of adult and subadult turtles. Despite the potential for these heavily used chemicals to act as endocrine disruptors, little is known about whether there is the potential for long-term sub-lethal effects on gonadal tissue that may interfere with reproductive potential and thus have population level effects. This study will thus provide insight into the potential long-term, sub-lethal effects plastic ingestion may have on sea turtles.
Results: