Moreton Bay on the eastern coast of
Australia is a rich and diverse
ecosystem beds of seagrass and stretch
over miles providing the foundation for
fish marine mammals and some truly
ancient mariners protected areas like
Moreton Bay seem like safe havens for
these ancient reptiles but increasingly
this sanctuary is under siege from an
even more each life-form when the doctor
Judy O’Neil knows all too well now
here’s a piece that was growing straight
out of the sediment once it pulls up and
it just rolls and rolls around and then
you have this sort of yarny mass what
looks like a piece of seagrass is an
epic scourge in Moreton vane a species
of blue-green algae his scientific name
is Libya the juice Killa and it
flourished 2.7 billion years ago it
emerged from the primordial ooze that
began all life
now it’s making a comeback in Moreton
vane and many other places and it grows
at astonishing rates at the height of a
bloom its edge can cover an area the
size of a football field in an hour dr.
Karen Arthur has observed the invasion
of fireweed in Moreton Bay we’ve had
extensive blooms of Ling via for the
past 60 or seven years and they have
become fairly predictable because they
occur every year in the summertime it is
related to water temperature the warmer
waters allow the seiner bacteria to grow
and bloom all the crust of seagrass beds
green turtles have long been thought to
be the vegetarians in a turtle world but
that fireweed infest the local salad bar
such a veggie loving turtle to do to
find out Karen and Judi want to learn
more about how green turtles in Moreton
Bay find foods they joined forces with
national Geographics Greg Marshall Greg
has brought critter camp a small imaging
and data logging system that can be
deployed on marine creatures to study
what they eat but before you can deploy
critter cam
you have to catch a turf
and they can be hard to find spending
most of their time below the surface
they only come up occasionally for air
and that’s the time to strike
Aaron often is a pro turtle rodeo and
this time she’s got a whopper a big
healthy female
the turtle is weighed and measured 179
she looks big and strong so she doesn’t
seem to be going hungry
Gregg cleans her shell so Crittercam can
be attached with the suction cup it’s a
quick deployment then the turtle is
released back into the bay the team in
tracked hitter camps homing me with a
radio receiver at a preset time the
system releases hopefully it contains
information on how green turtles manage
to make a living in Moreton Bay the
turtle swims rapidly after release only
surfacing quickly to breathe she passes
by a shovelnose shark fairly harmless
local fish swim by
but don’t seem to strike her interest
then something catches her attention
it’s another turtle they meet and greet
and after a quick bit of socializing
it’s time to move on the team watches as
she settles on the ocean floor in front
of her is a patch of seagrass
not the freshest looking greens but free
of fire we he takes a bite and settles
in for a rest green turtles don’t have
swallowing muscles so the green ooze
that’s coming from her mouth and nostril
his backwash from the salt water she
drinks to force the seaweed down her
throat as she swims toward the surface
the team is surprised to see her snap up
a jellyfish the grass eating turtle does
seem to occasionally dine on more party
fare these are first insights that
supplement Karen’s initial findings we
found the turtles are trying to avoid
the areas where there is a lot of Ling
via so if there’s Ling BR growing on
their sea grass then actually avoid the
sea grass where the Linga is and they’ll
swim to areas where perhaps the sea
grass isn’t as nutritious and isn’t as
good for them and so it means that
they’re getting a substandard diet when
there is an extensive bloom they don’t
have as much choice of the really nice
juicy leaves that they might sometimes
want to eat the critter cam shows that
green turtles have some tricks up their
sleeves their palate is more diverse
than previously thought
and besides jelly they may be able to
make do when the local salad bar is
closed
it remains to be seen if fireweed will
impact a comeback of the endangered Reed
turtle and Moreton Bay but the team will
be back to do what they can to protect
them from the rise of sly sponsored by
National Geographic mission programs
taking science and exploration into the
new
Australia is a rich and diverse
ecosystem beds of seagrass and stretch
over miles providing the foundation for
fish marine mammals and some truly
ancient mariners protected areas like
Moreton Bay seem like safe havens for
these ancient reptiles but increasingly
this sanctuary is under siege from an
even more each life-form when the doctor
Judy O’Neil knows all too well now
here’s a piece that was growing straight
out of the sediment once it pulls up and
it just rolls and rolls around and then
you have this sort of yarny mass what
looks like a piece of seagrass is an
epic scourge in Moreton vane a species
of blue-green algae his scientific name
is Libya the juice Killa and it
flourished 2.7 billion years ago it
emerged from the primordial ooze that
began all life
now it’s making a comeback in Moreton
vane and many other places and it grows
at astonishing rates at the height of a
bloom its edge can cover an area the
size of a football field in an hour dr.
Karen Arthur has observed the invasion
of fireweed in Moreton Bay we’ve had
extensive blooms of Ling via for the
past 60 or seven years and they have
become fairly predictable because they
occur every year in the summertime it is
related to water temperature the warmer
waters allow the seiner bacteria to grow
and bloom all the crust of seagrass beds
green turtles have long been thought to
be the vegetarians in a turtle world but
that fireweed infest the local salad bar
such a veggie loving turtle to do to
find out Karen and Judi want to learn
more about how green turtles in Moreton
Bay find foods they joined forces with
national Geographics Greg Marshall Greg
has brought critter camp a small imaging
and data logging system that can be
deployed on marine creatures to study
what they eat but before you can deploy
critter cam
you have to catch a turf
and they can be hard to find spending
most of their time below the surface
they only come up occasionally for air
and that’s the time to strike
Aaron often is a pro turtle rodeo and
this time she’s got a whopper a big
healthy female
the turtle is weighed and measured 179
she looks big and strong so she doesn’t
seem to be going hungry
Gregg cleans her shell so Crittercam can
be attached with the suction cup it’s a
quick deployment then the turtle is
released back into the bay the team in
tracked hitter camps homing me with a
radio receiver at a preset time the
system releases hopefully it contains
information on how green turtles manage
to make a living in Moreton Bay the
turtle swims rapidly after release only
surfacing quickly to breathe she passes
by a shovelnose shark fairly harmless
local fish swim by
but don’t seem to strike her interest
then something catches her attention
it’s another turtle they meet and greet
and after a quick bit of socializing
it’s time to move on the team watches as
she settles on the ocean floor in front
of her is a patch of seagrass
not the freshest looking greens but free
of fire we he takes a bite and settles
in for a rest green turtles don’t have
swallowing muscles so the green ooze
that’s coming from her mouth and nostril
his backwash from the salt water she
drinks to force the seaweed down her
throat as she swims toward the surface
the team is surprised to see her snap up
a jellyfish the grass eating turtle does
seem to occasionally dine on more party
fare these are first insights that
supplement Karen’s initial findings we
found the turtles are trying to avoid
the areas where there is a lot of Ling
via so if there’s Ling BR growing on
their sea grass then actually avoid the
sea grass where the Linga is and they’ll
swim to areas where perhaps the sea
grass isn’t as nutritious and isn’t as
good for them and so it means that
they’re getting a substandard diet when
there is an extensive bloom they don’t
have as much choice of the really nice
juicy leaves that they might sometimes
want to eat the critter cam shows that
green turtles have some tricks up their
sleeves their palate is more diverse
than previously thought
and besides jelly they may be able to
make do when the local salad bar is
closed
it remains to be seen if fireweed will
impact a comeback of the endangered Reed
turtle and Moreton Bay but the team will
be back to do what they can to protect
them from the rise of sly sponsored by
National Geographic mission programs
taking science and exploration into the
new
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