Over the years, human activities have significantly affected the environment, impacting organisms along with it. More specifically, humans have impacted sea life, causing pollution, overfishing, climate change, and habitat destruction, leading to declines in biodiversity, ecosystem damage, and potential extinction. These impacts range from direct harm, like ingestion of plastic or oil spills, to indirect consequences like changes in ocean chemistry and temperature.
Green turtles are changing due to pollution, particularly plastic pollution, which can cause entanglement, ingestion of debris, and habitat destruction. Pollution can also impact the food chain, leading to a decline in the availability of food sources. Additionally, pollution from oil spills and runoff can directly harm green turtles and contaminate their nesting habitats. As a result, green turtles have been suffering from drastic population decline due to human activity and environmental changes such as hunting, egg collection, bycatch in fisheries, and beach erosion, along with many other threats across their range. The green turtle is listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List and is listed on CITES Appendix I. Fisheries bycatch and water pollution may influence the Green Turtles’ evolutionary trajectory through natural selection. Studies have shown signs of adaptive changes in mitochondrial genes like ND4 and ND5, suggesting that these genetic traits may enhance energy efficiency and resilience in response to environmental stressors (Patel et al., 2020). Additionally, local thermal conditions at nesting sites have led to fine-scale thermal adaptation in some populations, indicating that green turtles may undergo microevolutionary shifts to better survive in their specific habitats (Monzón-Argüello et al., 2012). These adaptations not only highlight their evolutionary plasticity but also underscore how anthropogenic pressures can shape the direction and pace of evolutionary change in marine species.
Evolution is the process by which living organisms slowly change over time. These changes happen through many generations, as traits that help survival and reproduction become more common in a population. Natural selection is a process where organisms that adapt better to their environment have a higher chance of survival and producing offspring. This theory was first proposed by Charles Darwin, and it is now considered a key mechanism in evolution. Selective pressure is an evolutionary force that affects an organism’s ability to survive in a certain environment. Examples of selection pressures may be predation, competition, and disease.
Our hypothesis to prove the conclusion of our issue is: If the incidents of bycatch in fisheries happen often and pollution starts to get worse, then the population of green turtles will continue to decline, along with possible adaptations and evolutions
By using the simulation, we can prove that the hypothesis is correct as it observes that the population of green turtles will continue to decrease if the amount of trash and fishing boats/bycatch in fisheries continuously increases. It can also be seen that the reproduction rate of turtles makes a difference in the population, as it helps them reproduce and repopulate.
Overfishing and ocean trash, particularly plastic, pose significant threats to green turtles, leading to death through various mechanisms. If there's a lot of overfishing and trash in the ocean, there is a higher chance that the green turtles will die and go extinct. This is because plastic ingestion and trapped turtles cause serious health problems and ultimately death to turtles.
Based on the cases we examined and the results of our simulations, it is clear that society should consider more responsible and sustainable practices when it comes to plastic use. Rather than irresponsibly disposing of plastic waste, which contributes significantly to environmental pollution and poses a serious threat to marine life, especially green turtles, society can focus on reusing or properly managing plastic materials. Plastic can serve a protective function when used wisely, such as creating barriers or enclosures that help protect turtles' nesting sites and support their reproduction. Furthermore, it is important to implement strategies to reduce and manage fisheries bycatch. Bycatch, which refers to the unintentional capture of non-target species such as green turtles during fishing operations, is a major contributor to the decline of green turtle populations. Addressing this issue through improved fishing techniques and stricter regulations can help prevent drastic losses of green turtle populations caused by human activities and environmental change. Overall, the combination of responsible plastic use and improved fisheries management is critical to the conservation of green turtle populations.