Sarah Gibbons Reports on Effects of Climate Change on Sea Turtles

Sarah Gibbons writes for National Geographic and is passionate about the effects of climate change on Earth. Here she covers the Turtle Hospital located in Key West, Florida. The hospital has had a string of patients lately with the same recurring ailment. Fibropapilloma, or FP, is a herpes-type virus that causes tumors and is being seen increasingly seen in sea turtles in the area. These tumors can grow to be very large and cause problems with normal bodily functioning and lead to death. Gibbons writes, “Turtles, and particularly green sea turtles for an unknown reason, are quite susceptible to FP. Stresses in their environment like warm water and pollution can worsen the tumors.” She stresses that the cases are not only becoming more frequent in patients of the Turtle Hospital, a rehabilitation and veterinary hospital, they are also more serious. The tumor therapy involves new less-invasive techniques such as localized electrochemotherapy. Turtles are treated in the hospital for other pollution-related ailments involving plastic and wounds caused by boats.  (1 image, 1 link,1 quotation, 168 words)