Unraveling the Mysteries of Sea Turtles: Diseases and Well-Being in One Health Framework
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Herpetology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 155
Special Issue Editors
Interests: sea turtles; pathology; marine animals; one health approaches
Interests: reproduction; embryo development; sea turltes; pollution effects
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Sea turtles are iconic marine vertebrates that play a fundamental ecological role in ocean ecosystems and are widely recognized as sentinels of marine environmental health. Despite decades of conservation efforts, these species continue to face multiple threats associated with environmental degradation, climate change, pollution, emerging pathogens, and increasing human pressures. Their health status provides early evidence of sanitary risks within the marine ecosystem. Understanding sea turtle health and well-being therefore requires an interdisciplinary approach that integrates veterinary sciences, biology, ecology, and environmental research.
Recent advances in diagnostic tools, molecular biology, ecological monitoring, and clinical veterinary practice have created new opportunities to investigate sea turtle physiology, pathogen transmission patterns, immune responses, and overall fitness. In particular, infectious and parasitic diseases represent a major yet still incompletely understood component of sea turtle health, reflecting complex interactions among hosts, pathogens, parasites, and environmental conditions. Habitat quality, climate-driven variability, pollution, and anthropogenic stressors can impair immune function, alter stress physiology, and influence host–pathogen relationships.
This Special Issue aims to bring together original research articles and reviews addressing the health, biology, and welfare of sea turtles in both natural and managed environments. Contributions adopting integrative or One Health perspectives, linking environmental change to organismal condition, and bridging veterinary and ecological approaches are especially encouraged. By combining multidisciplinary expertise, this Special Issue seeks to advance our understanding of sea turtle health within the context of a rapidly changing ocean and to support effective conservation and management strategies.
Dr. Ludovica Di Renzo
Dr. Giorgia Gioacchini
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- sea turtles
- health
- diseases
- welfare
- physiology
- conservation medicine
- environmental stressor
- biomarkers
- biology
- ecology
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