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Year: 2013


Editors: Jeanette Wyneken, Kenneth J. Lohmann & John A. Musick


Publisher: CRC Press


ISBN: 978-1-4398-7307-6


Pages: 457 (hardcover)


Price: US $99.95

<http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781439873076>

Nearly 10 years have passed since publication of the previous volume of The Biology of Sea Turtles series. The most recent installment was worth the wait and provides a clear and concise style, excellent updates to research methods, and synopses of the most recent and available marine turtle data, which makes this book an excellent reference for students, conservationists, managers and sea turtle biologists. Overall, it “presents timely coverage of emerging areas as well as the integration of approaches and information that did not exist even a decade ago.” The Biology of Sea Turtles, Volume III was spearheaded by editors Jeanette Wyneken, Kenneth J. Lohmann and John A. Musick. This installment includes 16 chapters with a range of contributions from 33 authors from the United States (23), Australia (7), Peru (2) and Sweden (1).

As a researcher whose primary interests lie within the fields of marine turtle health and toxicology, I chose to first read the chapters most closely related to my immediate fields of study (Chapter 11: Exposure to and Effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants, Chapter 14: Free-Ranging Sea Turtle Health); I quickly found that the other chapters were so well written and easy to understand that my interests were piqued in a number of other research areas. The topics covered in this book are broad and include age estimation, anatomy, bycatch, effects of climate change, epibiosis, foraging ecology, genetics, health, in-water movements, natal homing, parasites, persistent organic pollutants, physiology, and vision.

The second volume of The Biology of Sea Turtles had minor criticisms including “a rather limited index; the erroneous citation of references detected with minimal checking; and a distinct lack of standardization of quality and format of graphics” (Godley 2003). Other criticisms included geographical limitations of some chapters and the mainly descriptive quality of some chapters (Robins 2003). The majority of these critiques have been corrected in Volume III. I would still agree that this book feels like a “compilation of papers by individuals (or groups of individuals...)” instead of a cohesive third volume of sea turtle biology (Robins 2003). However, this lack of cohesion is almost unavoidable with textbook development where multiple authors contribute individually to their areas of expertise. It is not until the finished product exists that the contributions become a single body of work. While shortcomings do exist within Volume III of this series, they are few. Some chapters still exhibit slight geographical bias; however, this is not a result of lack of effort by the authors, but due to what is available in the literature. For example, Keller’s Exposure to and Effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants (Chapter 11) indicates that the majority of research that has been conducted on contaminants in marine turtles has occurred in the United States. She suggests that other populations be targeted in the future. Additionally, Greiner’s Parasites of Marine Turtles (Chapter 16) focuses on parasites of marine turtles from Florida only; however, he does briefly touch on reports from other areas and calls for additional research in other locations. An additional critique lies within the vision (Chapter 2: Vision) and genetics (Chapter 6: Molecular Genetics of Sea Turtles) chapters, which may prove difficult to comprehend for those without a moderate understanding of the subject(s). There were also a few typographical errors within the text (which is almost unavoidable in works this large), the references have slight formatting differences throughout the book (some chapters use journal abbreviations while others do not), and some cross-references to chapter numbers were incorrect (e.g., “The epibiota will be dealt with in Chapter 10 by Frick and Pfaller” should actually reference Chapter 15). These negative points are minor and do not undermine the importance of this work.

The Biology of Sea Turtles, Volume III has a number of improvements (e.g., contains color illustrations throughout, which are absent or rare in previous versions of this series) and covers significant new research areas that have developed since the publication of the last volume. Three of the most important updates include age estimates (Chapter 5: Age and Age Estimation in Sea Turtles), spatial distributions of marine turtles at sea (Chapter 7: Oceanic Habits and Habitats: Dermochelys coriacea, Chapter 8: Oceanic Habits and Habitats: Caretta caretta) and the effects of climate change on marine turtle populations (Chapter 13: Climate Change and Marine Turtles). Additional and more specific updates from previous volumes are made regarding anatomical imaging (Chapter 4: The Skeleton), bycatch (Chapter 12: Fisheries Bycatch of Marine Turtles), the ecological role of marine turtles and their predators and prey (Chapter 10: Predators, Prey, and the Ecological Roles of Sea Turtles), foraging (Chapter 9: Feeding Biology), genetics (Chapter 6: Molecular Genetics), health (Chapter 14: Free- Ranging Sea Turtle Health), natal homing (Chapter 3: Natal Homing and Imprinting in Sea Turtles), and sensory systems (Chapter 2: Vision). Seemingly, the advances in marine turtle biology are becoming more specific, with Volume III allowing for more focused chapters (e.g., vision, in-water movements of leatherbacks and loggerheads, stable isotope and fatty acid analyses to infer foraging areas), which lend insight into new avenues of research that should be explored (e.g., in-water movements of other species, hearing capabilities, etc.).

The chapters that I found the most comprehensive and fascinating while providing an ease of understanding were Physiology as Integrated Systems (Chapter 1), Feeding Biology (Chapter 9) and Exposure to and Effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants (Chapter 11). Southwood covered metabolism, energetics, effects of temperature and diving physiology (updated from The Biology of Sea Turtles, Volume I; Musick & Lutz, 1997) with such ease and conciseness that individuals involved with all aspects of marine turtle biology should be able to easily understand it. Jones & Seminoff’s Feeding Biology chapter provided a comprehensive update to Bjorndal’s (1997) Foraging Ecology and Nutrition chapter in The Biology of Sea Turtles, Volume I. They also included extensive discussions regarding the recent advances in techniques used to determine the trophic status and foraging location of marine turtles. However, I am still skeptical regarding the value of trace element analysis (mentioned at the end of this chapter) to examine large- scale movements, although Talavera-Saenz et al. (2007) provide convincing evidence that diet may be used to evaluate foraging location. This type of research is still in its infancy and may provide valuable information regarding foraging ecology in the future. Lastly, Keller’s Persistent Organic Pollutants chapter includes a summary of every known marine turtle organic contaminant study published to date (including papers that are currently in press). Keller covers all aspects of this field including the current number of organic contaminant studies, reported contaminant concentrations, and effects of these pollutants in marine turtles, making this chapter an excellent review of the topic. Another important and unprecedented section occurred within Frick & Pfaller’s Sea Turtle Epibiosis chapter. In this contribution, an annotated bibliography of selected studies by geographic region was included, which is a first for The Biology of Sea Turtles series and provides an important reference list, especially for those whose research interests lie in this area.

The Biology of Sea Turtles, Volume III offers important research considerations for the future, which may be included as chapters within the fourth volume of this series. Several topics that are mentioned as research needs include: (1) time to reproductive maturity, (2) satellite tracking and in-water movements of marine turtle species other than loggerheads and leatherbacks, (3) diet selection and feeding physiology of all marine turtles, (4) predator effects on sea turtle populations and behavior, (5) studies of natural toxins (e.g., brevetoxins), anthropogenic contaminants (e.g., heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), and contaminant endpoints, (6) post-release mortality data in marine turtles caught as bycatch, (7) integration of marine turtle ecological data within an oceanographic, fisheries and social context, (8) mechanisms of environmental sex determination, (9) exposure to and effects of climate change to marine turtles, (10) a more comprehensive overview of marine turtle health (see Campbell 2006) that includes a summary of the published baseline health indices (e.g., biochemistry, hematology, protein electrophoresis), and (11) geographical and life-history variation in marine turtle parasites. This list is not exhaustive and many more topics could be explored.

As Eckert (2004) looked forward to Vol. III of The Biology of Sea Turtles, I eagerly anticipate the fourth installment. When I was first invited to write this review, my initial thought was (and I hate to admit it), “does that mean I have to read the whole book?” It turns out that it was an enjoyable experience from which I garnered much more information about marine turtles than I previously knew. The Biology of Sea Turtles, Volume III leaves us with an apparent call for more information regarding the in-water biology of marine turtles (proof of this lies in the fact that the 2014 symposium has more In- water Biology session abstracts submitted than any other session). Here, I have touched upon what I feel are the most important aspects of this book, which provides valuable and interesting updates and information to those involved with or interested in the fields of marine turtle biology and conservation. We now have a better sense of what still needs to be done in the future regarding marine turtle biology and conservation.

BJORNDAL, K. 1997. Foraging ecology and nutrition of sea turtles. In: Lutz, P.L. & J.A. Musick (Eds.). The Biology of Sea Turtles. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. pp. 199-232.

CAMPBELL, T.W. 2006 Clinical pathology of reptiles. In Mader, D.R. (Ed.). Reptile Medicine and Surgery, 2nd Edition. WB Saunders, Co., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. pp. 453-470.

ECKERT, S.A. 2004. Roaming the oceans. The Biology of Sea Turtles, Vol. II. Journal of Experimental Biology 207: 1431.

GODLEY, B.J. 2003. The Biology of Sea Turtles: Volume II. Marine Turtle Newsletter 102:27-28.

MUSICK, J.A. & P.L. LUTZ (Eds.). 1997. The Biology of Sea Turtles. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. 432 pp.

ROBINS, J. 2003. Book Review: The Biology of Sea Turtles: Volume II. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 294: 257-258.

TALAVERA-SAENZ, A., S.C. GARDNER, R.R. RODRIQUEZ & B.A. VARGAS. 2007. Metal profiles used as environmental markers of green turtle (Chelonia mydas) foraging resources. Science of the Total Environment 373: 94-102.

Reviewed by: Justin R. Perrault, Mote Marine Laboratory, 1600 Ken Thompson Parkway, Sarasota, Florida 34236 USA (E-mail: jperrault@mote.org)