Loggerhead Sea Turtles as Hosts of Diverse Bacterial and Fungal Communities.

ABSTRACT: Research on microbial communities associated with wild animals provides a valuable reservoir of knowledge that could be used for enhancing their rehabilitation and conservation. The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is a globally distributed species with its Mediterranean population categorized as least concern according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as a result of robust conservation efforts. In our study, we aimed to further understand their biology in relation to their associated microorganisms. We investigated epi- and endozoic bacterial and endozoic fungal communities of cloaca, oral mucosa, carapace biofilm. Samples obtained from 18 juvenile, subadult, and adult turtles as well as 8 respective enclosures, over a 3-year period, were analysed by amplicon sequencing o

SUBMITTER: Filek K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11139726 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature