Two Florida State University faculty members will receive Rising Star Awards from the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida.

Mariana Fuentes, an associate professor in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Gregg Stanwood, an associate professor in the College of Medicine, will be honored at the organization’s annual meeting, which takes place Nov. 3-4 in Orlando.

Fuentes’ research provides a critical scientific basis to help in the recovery of marine turtles and other threatened marine species. Her multidisciplinary approach improves our understanding of fundamental ecological questions and helps determine how marine species will be impacted by different disturbances. Her recent work focuses on how sea turtles are impacted by recreational fisheries, vessel interactions and climate change.

“My research allows managers and decision makers to better anticipate and mitigate impacts to marine wildlife, and to identify what stressors they should be mitigating to maximize conservation of species,” Fuentes said. “By managing and conserving marine megafauna, we’re enabling the ecosystems to be healthy, and that has a positive cascading effect to the whole ocean.”

Stanwood is a developmental neurobiologist who explores the effects of gene and environmental interactions on brain development. In a recent study, his lab showed that the receptors targeted by drugs that treat metabolism, diabetes and obesity — Ozempic is one popular example — are also involved in the addictive effects of cocaine and other drugs of abuse. An upcoming project funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will examine the interactions of harmful chemicals and psychosocial stressors such as adverse childhood experiences on children in the southwestern Florida community of Immokalee.

“I’m really excited to be part of a team that’s gathering new sources of data to assemble to make new models for cumulative risk exposures,” Stanwood said. “I think this is very impactful and can change lives positively, not just for members of the Immokalee community, but can also be adapted for other communities across the state and across the nation. Our team is uniquely positioned to evaluate both chemical and nonchemical stressors jointly – for the first time.”

Fuentes and Stanwood are among 11 faculty members from Florida universities who will be honored as rising stars. Other faculty come from the University of Florida, University of Miami, University of Central Florida and Florida International University.

The Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL) was established in 2018 and works to inform Floridians of current and future science, engineering and medicine issues and address associated challenges. The organization provides unbiased expertise for issues that concern the state and helps facilitate scientific interactions.

The academy also named Pamela Keel, Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Theo Siegrist, a chemical and biomedical engineering professor at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, for membership in this year’s class.

To be selected for ASEMFL membership, individuals must live or work in Florida and be a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, or be nominated by an ASEMFL member and have an outstanding record of accomplishments, national and international recognition.

Visit asemfl.org for more information about the organization and this year’s meeting.

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New research led by a Florida State University professor shows that potential adaptive responses by sea turtles, such as shifting the timing of when they nest, may not be enough to counteract the projected impacts from climate change on hatchling production.

Warmer temperatures cause lower hatchling success and a greater percentage of female turtles, both of which can disrupt the viability of a species. Sand temperatures at sea turtle nesting sites globally are projected to increase by about 0.6 degrees Celsius to about 4.2 degrees Celsius by 2100.

To examine how sea turtles might cope with higher temperatures, researchers with the study, led by Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science Associate Professor Mariana Fuentes, gathered data from 24 nesting sites across the world used by four species of sea turtles: green, loggerhead, hawksbill and olive ridley turtles.

They used their data to predict how turtles might shift the timing of nesting and what hatchling success they might expect. The research was published today in Global Change Biology.

“We have already observed that sea turtles are nesting earlier to align with optimal environmental conditions,” Fuentes said. “Sea turtles in the past have adapted to climate changes by changing the timing of their nesting or the distribution of their nesting sites, but we have found that even if they do change the timing of their nesting, that’s not going to be sufficient to maintain the temperatures of current nesting grounds.”

To maintain incubation temperatures in the sites the researchers examined, sea turtles will have to nest between 20 to 191 days earlier, or 54 to 180 days later. But in about half the sites, median incubation temperature will always be warmer than the 75th percentile of current ranges.

Turtles nesting further from the equator will be more able to counteract the impacts of warming. Those that nest closer to the equator will be most affected.

Because temperature is so important to sea turtle egg incubation, scientists have long studied them for insight into how wildlife might adapt as temperatures rise. Different sea turtle species have existed for millions of years and adapted to previous changes in the Earths’ climate, but the rate of change is much faster now. Researchers did not examine population viability in this study, but if fewer hatchlings are being produced, in 100 years there will be some locations that have lower hatchling productivity.

“Skeptics may say that sea turtles have been around for a long time and have adapted, but we’re showing that the adaptations that they might undertake are not going to be sufficient to counteract projected impacts,” Fuentes said.

The study involved 52 collaborators from universities in the U.S., Mexico, Qatar, France, Australia, Turkey, Cyprus, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, South Africa, Spain, French Polynesia, El Salvador and the United Kingdom. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and by several other institutions that funded the field component of the work.

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New research from Florida State University published in Frontiers in Marine Science found that extreme concentrations of microplastics could increase the temperature of beach sand enough to threaten the development of incubating sea turtles.

Sea turtles play a vital role in the marine ecosystem, and for these oceangoing reptiles to thrive, they need healthy beaches where their eggs can incubate successfully.

“Sea turtle sex, fitness and hatchling success is influenced by temperature,” said lead author Mariana Fuentes, an associate professor in FSU’s Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science. “Not much is known on how the presence of microplastic affects the thermal profile of sand. Understanding how changes to the environment could affect the temperature of nesting grounds is important for monitoring the future of these keystone species.”

Researchers mixed sand from beaches at the FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory with black and white microplastic. Concentrations of microplastic ranged from 5% to 30% of the total volume of the sediment sample. Then they recorded temperatures from July through September 2018 by burying digital thermometers at the same depth at which loggerhead sea turtles typically lay their eggs.

They found that samples with higher microplastic concentrations had greater increases in temperature, with the sample containing 30% black microplastic pieces having the highest mean difference in temperature. Those samples were 0.58 degrees Celsius warmer than the control group, an increase that could potentially significantly alter sea turtle hatchling sex ratios, physiological performance, and mortality of embryos.

The good news from the study is that the 30% concentration of microplastics in those samples equates to about 9.8 million pieces per cubic meter, a higher concentration than has been currently found on beaches worldwide. Current research has found the highest reported concentrations collected from beaches is about 1.8 million pieces per cubic meter.

But the amount of microplastics at nesting sites has only recently been explored. It could be higher in locations that haven’t been studied yet, and demand for plastic is forecast to increase in the future.

At nesting grounds where incubating eggs are near a 29-degree Celsius boundary — below which most hatchlings are male, and above which most hatchlings are female — smaller concentrations of plastic could be enough to push the temperature beyond a crucial threshold.

“Sea turtle eggs are sensitive to temperature, and microplastics are another factor adding to the heat they face,” Fuentes said. “This study gives us a baseline for future research on how they are affecting the nesting environment.”

The research was supported by FSU’s Garnet and Gold Scholar Society. Researchers with the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina Wilmington were co-authors on this study.

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