eDNA-Seq of Guana site 3 (maternal nest chamber B sand)
Sand samples for the purpose of sequencing environmental DNA (eDNA) for testing turtle presence were collected from three sites on Guana Beach, Florida, 9th August 2020 - two Caretta caretta false crawls and one C. caretta emerging nest - as well as two sites on Marineland Beach, Florida, 17th September 2020 - both C. caretta post-emerging nests. Sand samples (50 ml each) were collected by hand using sterile 50 ml falcon tubes while wearing nitrile gloves. A negative control (50 ml dry sand away from suspected turtle presence) was taken along to wild sampling and stored in a cool box with samples to monitor for potential contamination during sand sampling and transportation. This negative control was filtered and extracted alongside the other collected sand samples and subjected to the same qPCR conditions.