Grant: 26-034R
Project Title: The Invisible Legacy: Establishing Non-invasive Biomarkers to Determine Maternal Transfer of Microplastic in Loggerhead Sea Turtles
Project Manager: Mariana Fuentes
Organization: Florida State University (Research and Educational Institute)
Grant Amount: $18,921.00
Completion Date:
Summary: Global plastic production now exceeds 400 million metric tons annually, resulting in widespread accumulation of microplastics (<5 mm) throughout marine ecosystems. Sea turtles are especially vulnerable to this contamination due to their longevity, wide-ranging movements, and trophic diversity. However, the biological pathways of microplastic exposure in sea turtles remain poorly understood, and most existing studies rely on post-mortem analyses. As a result, little is known about exposure dynamics in living individuals or the potential for maternal transfer of microplastics to developing eggs. This project addresses these knowledge gaps by (1) evaluating the application microplastic detection methods used for human blood as a minimally invasive approach to assess peri-mortem exposure in sea turtles, and (2) investigating the extent of maternal transfer from nesting females to their eggs. Blood and paired egg samples will be collected and analyzed using enzymatic and chemical digestion followed by Fourier-Transform Infrared Micro-spectroscopy and Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). By integrating human biomonitoring techniques with marine ecotoxicology, this study will establish a standardized, non-lethal framework for quantifying microplastic exposure in live sea turtles and provide the first direct assessment of maternal transfer in this species.
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