Going home

(Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR)) For a better protection of marine turtles, scientists try to understand why they return to their birthplace in order to reproduce after rather long distance migrations. Using molecular tools applied to turtles from the Cape Verde islands, scientists from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Germany) found females from different islands have different immune genes, suggesting that returning home to reproduce is linked to advantages in parasite resistance. The study is now published in the "Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences."
Source: EurekAlert! - Medicine and Health - Category: Global & Universal Source Type: news