Turtles all the Way Down: Tracing Long-Term Genetic Change in Southern Caribbean Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Populations and Applications to Modern Conservation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Caribbean sea turtle histories are deeply intertwined with past human activities. While modern DNA offers insight into impacts of recent stressors, to fully support sea turtle recovery we must account for activities acting on populations prior to modern baselines. Ancient DNA (aDNA) research offers a novel method for identifying timing and rate of change to reveal past genetic events (e.g., bottlenecks, admixture) that may have altered sea turtles’ biodiversity. We apply aDNA methodologies to 80 archaeological green turtle (Chelonia mydas) bones from Archaic (3400 BC-AD 500/800), Ceramic Age (AD 500/800-AD 1499) and Colonial (AD 1499-1954) sites across Bonaire and Curaçao to identify long-term genetic change. Samples from our local partner institution, NAAM, underwent amplification of the mitochondria’s control region (D-Loop) in Simon Fraser University’s dedicated aDNA lab identifying the presence/absence of haplotypes and haplogroups. Results are interpreted with respect to Curaçao and Bonaire's archaeology and past human resource exploitation, and the applied relevance to conservation biology priorities.

Archaeological data will eventually be paired with modern DNA results to showcase archaeology’s potential to support species conservation by offering long-term genetic and environmental data that can enrich current conservation management strategies supporting the restoration and maintenance of green sea turtle biodiversity in the southern Caribbean.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38415.0