The current state and future directions of marine turtle toxicology research

Chemical contamination of marine turtles has been well documented in the literature, although information on the toxicological effects of these contaminants is poorly understood. This paper systematically and quantitatively presents the available marine turtle toxicological research (excluding oil chemicals and natural toxins) and the related fields of cell line establishment and biomarkers as indicators of exposure. Examination of the published literature identified a total of 49 papers on marine turtle toxicology, which were split into three categories: toxicity studies (n = 33, 67%), cell line establishment (n = 7, 14%), and publications using biomarkers (n = 13, 27%). Toxicity studies were further broken down into four subcategories: those correlating contaminants with toxicological endpoints (n = 16, 48%); in vitro exposure experiments (n = 11, 33%); in vivo exposure experiments (n = 5, 15%); and screening risk assessments using hazard quotients (n = 3, 9%). In quantitatively assessing the literature, trends and gaps in this field of research were identified. This paper highlights the need for more marine turtle toxicology research on all species, particularly using high throughput and non-invasive in vitro assays developed for marine turtle cells, including investigations into further toxicological endpoints and mixture effects. This will provide more comprehensive species-specific assessment of the impacts of chemical contaminants on these threatened animals, and improve conservation and management strategies globally.