Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: all
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) have known detrimental effects on human and wildlife health. Ubiquitous in the environment, these degradation-resistant chemicals have a high bioaccumulation potential. This case study describes the interdisciplinary plan and One Health design implemented to measure the role of harmful pollutants in the occurrence of a marine turtle panzootic Fibropapillomatosis (FP). FP is a neoplastic disease which causes growth of debilitating tumours on soft tissues and internal organs. Disease incidence has been increasing significantly throughout the Anthropocene and the reasons are still uncertain. The pervasive impact of pollution in marine coastal habitats has often been hypothesized as a driver of high disease prevalence, but never fully tested. Our project combines disease ecology, marine field biology, and chemical toxicology in the attempt to unravel the intricate dynamics behind FP. We here describe the complex methodology utilized to measure levels of harmful seawater pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in important sea turtle habitats in Florida. The proposed contaminants are among the top priority harmful pollutants, highly carcinogenic in aquatic animals, and bioaccumulate in sea turtles. Although only providing a description of the methodological process, this paper can help future research to apply similar transdisciplinary studies in the context of wildlife diseases. Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic-driven pollution activity on ocean health can clarify its consequences to the health of wildlife and humans living in and around that environment.