Images courtesy of: Wikimedia Commons and Wikimedia Commons

How does oxygen transport and oxygen uptake in marine turtles compare to freshwater turtles?

For marine turtles, the oxygen transport and oxygen uptake are reliant upon its lung regulation while submerged at considerable depths for extended periods of time. Due to this capacity to withstand excessive time elapsed without exhalation, marine turtles, particularly green sea turtles, Chelonia mydas, are able to maximize oxygen uptake presubmergence. When marine turtles do surface, a single breath will suffice. On the otherhand, many freshwater turtles must regularly surface to breathe. Many arguments have said that the capacity of marine turtles to operate on a single inspiration lends to the sentiment that they are well adapted for diving. In fact, sea turtles are able to function in the presence of an anoxic brain. "Sea turtles continue to survive long after there is a total absence of oxygen in blood and lung" (Berkson, 1967). Thus, there are clearly physiological adaptations that allow the green sea turtle to live a submarine life style. Its ability to combine blood oxygen properties, maximize blood transportation of oxygen,and its flexibility from aerobic to anaerobic changes in blood, which help it endure total anoxia for many hours, all constitute the green sea turtle's ability to regulate respiration, circulation, and buoyancy simultaneously.

 

 

 

 

This project was created as a part of a class project in the Animal Physiology class in the Department of Biology at Davidson College

E-mail questions to: snreid@davidson.edu

 

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