If sea turtles become extinct, ecosystems such as marine and freshwater systems will become weaker. This is because the reptiles are crucial components in them. The ocean is a vital food source for us, and we make use of beaches for several activities, vulnerable ecosystems would affect humans negatively.
While these sea creatures have been using the oceans across the world as a habitat for over 140 million years, now they face the risk of extinction primarily as a result of changes that humans cause.If we bring about changes in the beaches and in the oceans, which are significant enough to exterminate the reptiles, will these alterations make the survival of humans difficult? Conversely, if we decide to do what is appropriate to ensure these sea animals survive, we are going to benefit massively from doing all.
During the year, systems such as beaches and dunes don’t have a lot of nutrients. Thus, on the dunes there is the scanty growth of vegetation, while there is no growth of the plant in the beaches at all since sand has very low water-retaining capacity.Sea turtles employ beaches as well as lower dunes for nesting and laying their eggs. They lay roughly one hundred eggs in one nest. During the nesting season in the summer, they lay nests within the range of 3 – 7. It isn’t all the nests that’ll hatch, and in a nest, not all eggs will hatch. Also, it isn’t all the hatchlings in one nest that will get out of it alive. Every one of the un-hatched nests, eggs as well as hatchlings that couldn’t make out of the nest serve an essential function for the vegetation of the dune: They are excellent nutrient sources for the plants in the system.
These plants utilize the nutrients from the eggs of turtles to enhance their growth and strength. As the vegetation in the dunes gets healthier and stronger, there is an improvement in the health of the whole ecosystem of dune or beach, as the case may be.
What holds the sand in these dunes are robust root systems and healthy vegetation. They also offer protection to the beach against erosion. A lesser number of eggs get laid in the system as the population of turtles reduces. This leads to a drop in the nutrients. Thus, the extinction of these animals would make vegetation in the dunes lose most of their nutrient sources, and they wouldn’t be strong or healthy enough for the maintenance of the system. If this happens, beaches will wash away.
Furthermore, sea turtles consume jellyfish. This helps in controlling the population of these sea creatures that sting fisheries and humans that use the oceans for a recreational purpose. The functions above are some of the reasons why we need to care for sea turtles. They play a vital role in maintaining the health of the beaches and marine ecosystems, and the survival of the human population is at risk if — owing to changes we introduce to these systems — sea turtles get wiped out. This could weaken the ecosystems and bring about adverse effects in our lives.