Dataset Information

Buried treasure-marine turtles do not 'disguise' or 'camouflage' their nests but avoid them and create a decoy trail.

ABSTRACT: After laying their eggs and refilling the egg chamber, sea turtles scatter sand extensively around the nest site. This is presumed to camouflage the nest, or optimize local conditions for egg development, but a consensus on its function is lacking. We quantified activity and mapped the movements of hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and leatherback (Dermochelys coriacea) turtles during sand-scattering. For leatherbacks, we also recorded activity at each sand-scattering position. For hawksbills, we recorded breathing rates during nesting as an indicator of metabolic investment and compared with published values for leatherbacks. Temporal and inferred metabolic investment in sand-scattering was substantial for both species. Neither species remained near the nest while sand-scattering, instead moving to several other positions to scatter sand, changing direction each time, progressively displacing themselves from the nest site. Movement patterns were highly diverse between individuals, but activity at each sand-scattering position changed little between completion of egg chamber refilling and return to the sea. Our findings are inconsistent with sand-scattering being to directly camouflage the nest, or primarily for modifying the nest-proximal environment. Instead, they are consistent with the construction of a series of dispersed decoy nests that may reduce the discovery of nests by predators.

SUBMITTER: Burns TJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7277256 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Buried treasure-marine turtles do not 'disguise' or 'camouflage' their nests but avoid them and create a decoy trail.

Burns Thomas J TJ Thomson Rory R RR McLaren Rosemary A RA Rawlinson Jack J McMillan Euan E Davidson Hannah H Kennedy Malcolm W MW

Royal Society open science 20200513 5

After laying their eggs and refilling the egg chamber, sea turtles scatter sand extensively around the nest site. This is presumed to camouflage the nest, or optimize local conditions for egg development, but a consensus on its function is lacking. We quantified activity and mapped the movements of hawksbill (<i>Eretmochelys imbricata</i>) and leatherback (<i>Dermochelys coriacea</i>) turtles during sand-scattering. For leatherbacks, we also recorded activity at each sand-scattering position. Fo ...[more]

PMID: 32537227

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Project description:BackgroundMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are a mixture of progenitors that are heterogeneous in their regenerative potential. Development of MSC therapies with consistent efficacy is hindered by the absence of an immunophenotype of MSC heterogeneity. This study evaluates decoy TRAIL receptor CD264 as potentially the first surface marker to detect cellular aging in heterogeneous MSC cultures.MethodsCD264 surface expression, regenerative potential, and metrics of cellular aging were assessed in vitro for marrow MSCs from 12 donors ages 20-60 years old. Male and female donors were age matched. Expression of CD264 was compared with that of p16, p21, and p53 during serial passage of MSCs.ResultsWhen CD264+ cell content was 20% to 35%, MSC cultures from young (ages 20-40 years) and older (ages 45-60 years) donors proliferated rapidly and differentiated extensively. Older donor MSCs containing?<?35% CD264+ cells had a small size and negligible senescence despite the donor's advanced chronological age. Above the 35% threshold, CD264 expression inversely correlated with proliferation and differentiation potential. When CD264+ cell content was 75%, MSCs were enlarged and mostly senescent with severely compromised regenerative potential. There was no correlation of the older donors' chronological age to either CD264+ cell content or the regenerative potential of the donor MSCs. CD264 was upregulated after p53 and had a similar expression profile to that of p21 during serial passage of MSCs. No sex-linked differences were detected in this study.ConclusionsThese results suggest that CD264 is a surface marker of cellular age for MSCs, not the chronological age of the MSC donor. CD264 is first upregulated in MSCs at an intermediate stage of cellular aging and remains upregulated as aging progresses towards senescence. The strong inverse correlation of CD264+ cell content to the regenerative potential of MSCs has possible application to assess the therapeutic potential of patient MSCs, standardize the composition and efficacy of MSC therapies, and facilitate aging research on MSCs.

Dataset Information

Buried treasure-marine turtles do not 'disguise' or 'camouflage' their nests but avoid them and create a decoy trail.

Publications

Buried treasure-marine turtles do not 'disguise' or 'camouflage' their nests but avoid them and create a decoy trail.

Similar Datasets

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