查看文章

Marine turtles face numerous anthropogenic threats, including that of chemical contaminant exposure. The ecotoxicological impact of toxic metals is a global issue facing Chelonia mydas in coastal sites. Local investigation of C. mydas short‐term blood metal profiles is an emerging field, while little research has been conducted on scute metal loads as potential indicators of long‐term exposure. The aim of the present study was to investigate and describe C. mydas blood and scute metal profiles in coastal and offshore populations of the Great Barrier Reef. This was achieved by analyzing blood and scute material sampled from local C. mydas populations in five field sites, for a suite of ecologically relevant metals. By applying principal component analysis and comparing coastal sample data with those of reference intervals derived from the control site, insight was gleaned on local metal profiles of each population …