Green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) fecal microbiome

Green turtles are naturally herbivorous as late-stage juveniles, however rehabilitation centers and aquaria often feed them a seafood-based diet, either because they are emaciated and need the calories, or because they seem to prefer seafood over vegetables. We used next generation sequencing to analyze fecal samples collected from turtles admitted for rehabilitation at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center to elucidate the effect of diet on the fecal microbiome. Samples were collected over three time points that spanned a shift in diet from primarily seafood-based at admission to primarily vegetable-based at recovery.