Data from: Haematological and biochemical reference intervals for wild green turtles (Chelonia mydas): a Bayesian approach for small sample sizes

In this study, we used Bayesian modeling to account for sample size limitations and predicted blood biochemical and haematological reference intervals for green turtles (Chelonia mydas) across two foraging populations in North Queensland, Australia.

Equipment used to create/collect the data:

  • Packed cell volume determination: Livingstone Microhaematocrit Capillary Tubes, Livingstone Int., Mascot, NSW, Australia; and Pico 17 Microcentrifuge, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA
  • Blood smear preparation: Thermo Scientific Menzel-Gläser, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, M.A., USA
  • Blood collection tubes: BD Vacutainer LH 34 I.U., BD Vacutainer Systems, Plymouth, U.K.
  • Centrifuge: Beckman Coulter Allegra X-30R Centrifuge, Brea, CA, USA; and E8 Portafuge, LW Scientific, Lawrenceville, GA, USA

Software/equipment used to manipulate/analyse the data: (a) Equipment:

  • Light microscope: Olympus BX43, Olympus Corp., Tokyo, Japan
  • Automated biochemistry analyser: Beckman Coulter, AU480, Brea, CA, USA (b) Software:
  • R statistical software, using the package ggplot2 for data visualisation (Hadley, 2016, R Core Team, 2019)

The full methodology will be made available in the Open Access publication from the Related publications link below.

Description of the parameters examined and of the codes used in the dataset (also included with the paper in Supplementary Materials)

  • id: Animal identification number
  • date: Date the sample was collected (day/month/year).
  • season: Season in which the sample was collected (dry/wet)
  • location: Location in which the animals were captured or sourced "combe_reef" and "ingram_reef" are locations in Howick Group of Islands; "cockle_bay" and "toolakea" are locations in the Townsville region
  • location_merged: Summarised location in which the animals were captured or sourced "howicks" refers to Howick Group of Islands; "tsv" refers to Townsville region
  • location_merged_num: Numeric code of the variable "location_merged". (2) tsv; (3) howicks
  • recap: Record of inter-season (isr) or within-season (wsr) (p) denotes an animal which was captured for the first time
  • lifestage: Life stage of the animals (j) juvenile; (sa) subadult; (a) adult
  • sex: Sex of the animals (f) female; (m) male; (i) undetermined
  • sex_num: Numeric code of the variable "sex". (1) female; (2) male; (3) undetermined
  • ccl: Curved carapace length (cm)
  • scl: Straight carapace length (cm)
  • weight: Total body weight (kg)
  • bci: Body condition index
  • ph_ex: Evidence of physical (1) yes
  • temp_air: Air temperature (ºC)
  • temp_cloaca: Cloacal temperature (ºC)
  • postfeeding_h: Postprandial time (hours)
  • blood: Evidence of blood (1) yes
  • istat: Additional blood analysed using an i-STAT blood gas analyser (unpublished data, which is part of a separate research study)
  • bia_postcapt_h: Hours after capture
  • smear: Evidence of blood (1) yes; (0) no
  • biochem: Evidence of biochemical (1) yes
  • pcv: Packed cell volume
  • wbc_het: Heterophils (%)
  • wbc_lymph: Lymphocytes (%)
  • wbc_mono: Monocytes (%)
  • wbc_eosin: Eosinophils (%)
  • wbc_baso: Basophils (%)
  • wbc_azu: Presence of azurophil-like cells, not included in the (T) true; (F) false.
  • wbc_ratio_het_lymph: Heterophil : Lymphocyte ratio
  • bc_Alb: Albumin (g/L)
  • bc_ALP: Alkaline phosphatase (U/L)
  • bc_AST: Aspartate transaminase (U/L)
  • bc_TBILC: Total bilirubin (µmol/L)
  • bc_CALA: Calcium (mmol/L)
  • bc_CO2: Carbon dioxide (mmol/L). Not included in the analysis
  • bc_Cl: Chloride (mmol/L)
  • bc_CHOL: Cholesterol (mmol/L)
  • bc_CK: Creatine kinase (U/L)
  • bc_CRE: Creatinine (µmol/L)
  • bc_glob: Globulins (g/L)
  • bc_GLUC: Glucose (mmol/L)
  • bc_LDH: Lactate dehydrogenase (U/L)
  • bc_MG: Magnesium (mmol/L)
  • bc_PHOS: Phosphate (mmol/L)
  • bc_K: Potassium (mmol/L)
  • bc_TP: Total protein (g/L)
  • bc_Na: Sodium (mmol/L)
  • bc_TRIG: Triglycerides (mmol/L)
  • bc_UREA: Urea (mmol/L)
  • bc_URIC: Uric acid (mmol/L)
  • bc_CaP: Calcium : Phosphate ratio
  • bc_AlbGlob: Albumin : Globulin ratio
    Data Record Details
    Data record related to this publication Data from: Haematological and biochemical reference intervals for wild green turtles (Chelonia mydas): a Bayesian approach for small sample sizes
    Data Publication title Data from: Haematological and biochemical reference intervals for wild green turtles (Chelonia mydas): a Bayesian approach for small sample sizes
  • Description

    In this study, we used Bayesian modeling to account for sample size limitations and predicted blood biochemical and haematological reference intervals for green turtles (Chelonia mydas) across two foraging populations in North Queensland, Australia.

    Equipment used to create/collect the data:

    • Packed cell volume determination: Livingstone Microhaematocrit Capillary Tubes, Livingstone Int., Mascot, NSW, Australia; and Pico 17 Microcentrifuge, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA
    • Blood smear preparation: Thermo Scientific Menzel-Gläser, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, M.A., USA
    • Blood collection tubes: BD Vacutainer LH 34 I.U., BD Vacutainer Systems, Plymouth, U.K.
    • Centrifuge: Beckman Coulter Allegra X-30R Centrifuge, Brea, CA, USA; and E8 Portafuge, LW Scientific, Lawrenceville, GA, USA

    Software/equipment used to manipulate/analyse the data: (a) Equipment:

    • Light microscope: Olympus BX43, Olympus Corp., Tokyo, Japan
    • Automated biochemistry analyser: Beckman Coulter, AU480, Brea, CA, USA (b) Software:
    • R statistical software, using the package ggplot2 for data visualisation (Hadley, 2016, R Core Team, 2019)

    The full methodology will be made available in the Open Access publication from the Related publications link below.

    Description of the parameters examined and of the codes used in the dataset (also included with the paper in Supplementary Materials)

    • id: Animal identification number
    • date: Date the sample was collected (day/month/year).
    • season: Season in which the sample was collected (dry/wet)
    • location: Location in which the animals were captured or sourced "combe_reef" and "ingram_reef" are locations in Howick Group of Islands; "cockle_bay" and "toolakea" are locations in the Townsville region
    • location_merged: Summarised location in which the animals were captured or sourced "howicks" refers to Howick Group of Islands; "tsv" refers to Townsville region
    • location_merged_num: Numeric code of the variable "location_merged". (2) tsv; (3) howicks
    • recap: Record of inter-season (isr) or within-season (wsr) (p) denotes an animal which was captured for the first time
    • lifestage: Life stage of the animals (j) juvenile; (sa) subadult; (a) adult
    • sex: Sex of the animals (f) female; (m) male; (i) undetermined
    • sex_num: Numeric code of the variable "sex". (1) female; (2) male; (3) undetermined
    • ccl: Curved carapace length (cm)
    • scl: Straight carapace length (cm)
    • weight: Total body weight (kg)
    • bci: Body condition index
    • ph_ex: Evidence of physical (1) yes
    • temp_air: Air temperature (ºC)
    • temp_cloaca: Cloacal temperature (ºC)
    • postfeeding_h: Postprandial time (hours)
    • blood: Evidence of blood (1) yes
    • istat: Additional blood analysed using an i-STAT blood gas analyser (unpublished data, which is part of a separate research study)
    • bia_postcapt_h: Hours after capture
    • smear: Evidence of blood (1) yes; (0) no
    • biochem: Evidence of biochemical (1) yes
    • pcv: Packed cell volume
    • wbc_het: Heterophils (%)
    • wbc_lymph: Lymphocytes (%)
    • wbc_mono: Monocytes (%)
    • wbc_eosin: Eosinophils (%)
    • wbc_baso: Basophils (%)
    • wbc_azu: Presence of azurophil-like cells, not included in the (T) true; (F) false.
    • wbc_ratio_het_lymph: Heterophil : Lymphocyte ratio
    • bc_Alb: Albumin (g/L)
    • bc_ALP: Alkaline phosphatase (U/L)
    • bc_AST: Aspartate transaminase (U/L)
    • bc_TBILC: Total bilirubin (µmol/L)
    • bc_CALA: Calcium (mmol/L)
    • bc_CO2: Carbon dioxide (mmol/L). Not included in the analysis
    • bc_Cl: Chloride (mmol/L)
    • bc_CHOL: Cholesterol (mmol/L)
    • bc_CK: Creatine kinase (U/L)
    • bc_CRE: Creatinine (µmol/L)
    • bc_glob: Globulins (g/L)
    • bc_GLUC: Glucose (mmol/L)
    • bc_LDH: Lactate dehydrogenase (U/L)
    • bc_MG: Magnesium (mmol/L)
    • bc_PHOS: Phosphate (mmol/L)
    • bc_K: Potassium (mmol/L)
    • bc_TP: Total protein (g/L)
    • bc_Na: Sodium (mmol/L)
    • bc_TRIG: Triglycerides (mmol/L)
    • bc_UREA: Urea (mmol/L)
    • bc_URIC: Uric acid (mmol/L)
    • bc_CaP: Calcium : Phosphate ratio
    • bc_AlbGlob: Albumin : Globulin ratio
  • Other Descriptors
    • Descriptor
      The dataset used for the analyses is available as a spreadsheet saved in MS Excel (.xls), Open Document (.ods) and Comma-separated values (.csv) formats.
    • Descriptor type Note
  • Data type dataset
  • Keywords
    • sea turtles
    • baseline values
    • wildlife health
    • population assessment
    • blood analysis
    • Australia
  • Funding source
    • Assessment of health status in sea turtle populations by bioelectrical impeedance analysis method
  • Research grant(s)/Scheme name(s)
    • 26162 - Assessment of health status in sea turtle populations by bioelectrical impeedance analysis method
  • Research themes
    Tropical Ecosystems, Conservation and Climate Change
    FoR Codes (*)
    SEO Codes
    Specify spatial or temporal setting of the data
    Temporal (time) coverage
  • Start Date 2019/06/01
  • End Date 2019/08/31
  • Time Period
    Spatial (location) coverage
  • Locations
    • Great Barrier Reef
  • Related publications
      Name Kophamel, Sara, Illing, Björn, Ariel, Ellen, Difalco, Morgan, Skerratt, Lee F., Hamann, Mark, Ward, Leigh C., Méndez, Diana, and Munns, Suzanne L. (2021) Importance of health assessments for conservation in noncaptive wildlife. Conservation Biology.
    • URL https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13724
    • Notes Open Access; provides details about the methodology used i.e., biochemical and haematological analyses and required sample size for determining reference intervals
    • Name Kophamel, Sara, Rudd, Donna, Ward, Leigh C., Shum, Edith, Ariel, Ellen, Mendez, Diana, Starling, Jemma, Mellers, Renee. Burchell, Richard K. and Munns, Suzanne L. (2022) Haematological and biochemical reference intervals for wild green turtles (Chelonia mydas): a Bayesian approach for small sample sizes, Conservation Physiology, 10(2): coac043
    • URL https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coac043
    • Notes Open Access
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    Citation Kophamel, Sara; Munns, Suzanne (2022): Data from: Haematological and biochemical reference intervals for wild green turtles (Chelonia mydas): a Bayesian approach for small sample sizes . James Cook University. https://doi.org/10.25903/9rm7-k267