Sick of attention: The effect of a stress-related disease on juvenile green sea turtle behaviour in the face of intense and prolonged tourism

Anthropogenic activities are increasingly linked to emerging diseases that cause mortality across many taxa. Human interference through ecotourism, in particular, can increase the stress levels of wild populations and promote the spread of disease. In Akumal Bay, Mexico, green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) are increasingly infected with fibropapillomatosis (FP), an infectious disease associated with stress-induced immunosuppression linked to high human density, which is particularly high in this area because of intense and prolonged ecotourism. To examine if FP might be associated with behavioural indicators of stress and varying levels of tourist pressure, we observed the behaviour of turtles and the number of tourists through 20-minute focal sampling periods from May to August 2017. We related disease presence and tourist pressure to several aspects of turtle behaviour, specifically feeding, resting, vertical movements (i.e., surfacing and diving), and evasive responses. Turtles that h...

人类活动正愈发频繁地与跨多个生物类群引发死亡的新发传染病建立关联。其中，生态旅游介导的人类干扰，更会提升野生种群的应激水平，并促进疾病的传播。在墨西哥阿库马尔湾，绿海龟（Chelonia mydas）的纤维乳头状瘤病（fibropapillomatosis, FP）感染率持续攀升；该传染病与应激诱导的免疫抑制相关，而该区域因高强度且持续性的生态旅游活动，人类密度本就处于高位。为探究纤维乳头状瘤病是否与应激行为指标及不同程度的游客压力存在关联，研究团队于2017年5月至8月期间，采用20分钟定点采样法，对海龟行为与游客数量开展观测。研究将海龟的疾病感染状态与游客压力，与海龟的多项行为维度进行关联分析，具体涵盖觅食、休憩、垂直运动（即上浮与下潜）以及逃避反应。感染该疾病的海龟（原文此处内容截断）