• Environmental parameters were found to impact the prevalence of the red-eared slider turtle
  • More red-eared slider turtles were found in environments that possessed more hypoxic or polluted water conditions
• This finding supports the physiology of the red-eared slider turtle, since the nervous tissues of the species can withstand periods submerged in hypoxic and anoxic condition
• The results found in this study support the use of the red-eared slider turtle as a model for studying how to improve the tolerance levels of human nervous tissue to anoxic conditions, which may be exhibited in certain neurodegenerative diseases

References