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Epibiotic Diatoms Are Universally Present on All Sea Turtle Species
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 6, p e0157011 (2016)
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2016.
-
Abstract
- The macro-epibiotic communities of sea turtles have been subject to growing interest in recent years, yet their micro-epibiotic counterparts are almost entirely unknown. Here, we provide the first evidence that diatoms are epibionts for all seven extant species of sea turtle. Using Scanning Electron Microscopy, we inspected superficial carapace or skin samples from a single representative of each turtle species. We distinguished 18 diatom taxa from these seven individuals, with each sea turtle species hosting at least two diatom taxa. We recommend that future research is undertaken to confirm whether diatom communities vary between sea turtle species and whether these diatom taxa are facultative or obligate commensals.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Research Facilities
lcsh:Medicine
Marine and Aquatic Sciences
Museum Collections
01 natural sciences
law.invention
law
Electron Microscopy
Scanning Electron Microscopes
Turtle (robot)
lcsh:Science
Microscopy
Multidisciplinary
Ecology
biology
Marine Ecology
Plants
Plankton
Turtles
Sea turtle
Community Ecology
Vertebrates
Engineering and Technology
Scanning Electron Microscopy
Research Article
Algae
Equipment
Marine Biology
Chelonia
Research and Analysis Methods
010603 evolutionary biology
Animals
Carapace
Epibiont
Diatoms
Facultative
Community
Imaging Equipment
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
lcsh:R
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Reptiles
biology.organism_classification
Commensalism
Invertebrates
Diatom
Testudines
Amniotes
Phytoplankton
Earth Sciences
Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
lcsh:Q
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 11
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLOS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c1f6b18f899401567dede35fb36882f3