Characterization of skin, cloacal, and respiratory-associated microbiota in Mediterranean loggerhead and Green Sea turtle populations
Abstract
Animals and their associated microbiota form integrated ecological units that play key roles in host physiology and fitness. Sea turtles provide a valuable model for investigating host–microbiome interactions under both rehabilitation and managed conservation conditions. This study characterized and compared the microbiota of the upper respiratory tract, cloaca, and skin of loggerhead sea turtles undergoing rehabilitation at the Israeli Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Mikhmoret, Israel, and the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, Italy, representing populations from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS) and Western Mediterranean Sea (WMS), respectively. In addition, we characterized the microbiota of respiratory droplets, skin, and cloaca in captive-bred green sea turtles from the EMS. Microbial composition differed significantly among turtle groups (p = 0.001), between turtles and their surrounding water (p = 0.001 for loggerheads; p = 0.01 for green turtles), and across anatomical sites within and between species (p = 0.001). Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidia, and Alphaproteobacteria dominated across populations, but community structure varied according to anatomical niche, host species, and rehabilitation location. Cloacal communities exhibited lower compositional variation among samples, whereas skin and respiratory-associated communities displayed greater niche-specific variation, suggesting that external and respiratory interfaces may be more responsive to host and environmental context. This study provides the first direct comparison of microbial communities between loggerhead turtles from the EMS and WMS during their rehabilitation process and offers new insight into the microbiota of a captive-bred green turtle population involved in regional conservation efforts. Overall, the findings indicate clear body-site specificity in sea turtle microbiomes, with distinct microbial profiles across the sampled anatomical sites. Additional differences associated with host species and sex provide further insights into the factors underlying variation in sea turtle-associated microbiota within the sampled turtle groups. These patterns highlight the potential value of site-specific microbial profiles for informing studies of host-associated and environmental conditions in rehabilitation and conservation settings.
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BibTeX
@article{bachmann2026characterization,
title = {{Characterization of skin, cloacal, and respiratory-associated microbiota in Mediterranean loggerhead and Green Sea turtle populations}},
author = {Vanessa M. Bachmann and Sandra Hochscheid and Andrea Affuso and Antonino Pace and Maya Lalzar and Eli Shemesh and Yaniv Levy and Gaston Kan and Olga Rybak and Dan Tchernov and Danny Morick and Dalit Meron},
journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2026.1941596},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1941596},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Characterization of skin, cloacal, and respiratory-associated microbiota in Mediterranean loggerhead and Green Sea turtle populations
AU - Vanessa M. Bachmann
AU - Sandra Hochscheid
AU - Andrea Affuso
AU - Antonino Pace
AU - Maya Lalzar
AU - Eli Shemesh
AU - Yaniv Levy
AU - Gaston Kan
AU - Olga Rybak
AU - Dan Tchernov
AU - Danny Morick
AU - Dalit Meron
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/02
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1941596
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1941596
AB - Animals and their associated microbiota form integrated ecological units that play key roles in host physiology and fitness. Sea turtles provide a valuable model for investigating host–microbiome interactions under both rehabilitation and managed conservation conditions. This study characterized and compared the microbiota of the upper respiratory tract, cloaca, and skin of loggerhead sea turtles undergoing rehabilitation at the Israeli Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Mikhmoret, Israel, and the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Naples, Italy, representing populations from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS) and Western Mediterranean Sea (WMS), respectively. In addition, we characterized the microbiota of respiratory droplets, skin, and cloaca in captive-bred green sea turtles from the EMS. Microbial composition differed significantly among turtle groups (p = 0.001), between turtles and their surrounding water (p = 0.001 for loggerheads; p = 0.01 for green turtles), and across anatomical sites within and between species (p = 0.001). Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidia, and Alphaproteobacteria dominated across populations, but community structure varied according to anatomical niche, host species, and rehabilitation location. Cloacal communities exhibited lower compositional variation among samples, whereas skin and respiratory-associated communities displayed greater niche-specific variation, suggesting that external and respiratory interfaces may be more responsive to host and environmental context. This study provides the first direct comparison of microbial communities between loggerhead turtles from the EMS and WMS during their rehabilitation process and offers new insight into the microbiota of a captive-bred green turtle population involved in regional conservation efforts. Overall, the findings indicate clear body-site specificity in sea turtle microbiomes, with distinct microbial profiles across the sampled anatomical sites. Additional differences associated with host species and sex provide further insights into the factors underlying variation in sea turtle-associated microbiota within the sampled turtle groups. These patterns highlight the potential value of site-specific microbial profiles for informing studies of host-associated and environmental conditions in rehabilitation and conservation settings.
SN - 1664-302X
ER -