Aquatic turtles

Table 1. Aquatic Turtle Behavior as It Relates to Odor Imprinting. ... 

In aquatic turtles, courtship behavior seems to rely on pheromones produced and expressed from the cloaca. There are no experimental studies specifically... 

Golet WJ, Haines TA. 2001. Snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) as monitors for mercury contamination of aquatic environments. Environ Monit Assess 71 211-220. 

Both primitive and advanced forms have been examined for vomeronasal excitation. The turtle VN nerve was the subject of EOG recordings elicited by small organic molecules and by specific signal compounds (Tucker, 1963 Hatanaka, 1987). The simple arrangement of the chelonian accessory area (Fig. 2.8) allows air or liquid delivery hence the preferred odourant vehicle varies with habitat across the aquatic or terrestrial turtles, and the land tortoises (Chap. 1 and Halpem, 1992). 

Giesy JP, Kannan K (1999) Sulfonated fluorochemicals in aquatic mammals, turtles, and cormorants. Quarterly Report Submitted to 3M... 

Pelomedusa (African helmeted turtle, semi-aquatic ]... 

Metamorphosis has also been extensively studied in amphibians, a class of vertebrates which includes frogs, toads, and salamanders. Amphibian means dual (amphi ) life form (-bian) and refers to the typical life history of these animals, in which an aquatic larva metamorphoses into a terrestrial adult. The reptiles, such as turtles, lizards, and snakes, is another class of vertebrates whose species superficially resemble adult amphibians, but do not undergo metamorphosis. 

The estimated primary production (in terms of C content) for various aquatic ecosystems is shown in Table 3.3. Freshwater primary production, in lakes and streams, amounts to a little over 1% of total aquatic primary production. Phytoplankton account for c.95% of marine primary production, which totals c.40GtCyr-1, whereas coastal ecosystems make relatively minor contributions. Important macrophytes in intertidal zones include Rhizophora in mangrove swamps, turtle grass... 

While vision is commonly rated as the dominant sensory mode in reptiles (i.e., Madison, 1977), we believe this is an impression based primarily on work with terrestrial lizards, snakes and tortoises which may not apply as well to the aquatic members of the class. Much more research needs to be done with aquatic and marine snakes and turtles whose habitats provide poor visual, but excellent chemical cueing characteristics. 

---