Warmer climate to suit female sea turtles, Study

Rising temperatures could lead to more female sea turtles but won’t affect population size, research from Swansea University (UK) finds.

Above a certain incubation temperature of about 29 degrees, most sea turtle eggs will produce female hatchlings.

Although the sex ratio will be altered the overall population size will not crash, at least for a few decades, because males breed more frequently than females.

The scientists studied the Cape Verde Islands rookeries in the Atlantic and found that the colour of the sand on the beaches made a difference to sex ratios.

“We estimate that light-coloured beaches currently produce 70.10% females whereas dark-coloured beaches produce 93.46% females,” they say in the journal article, “Effects of rising temperature on the viability of an important sea turtle rookery”.

“Rising temperatures increase the number of breeding females and hence the natural rate of population growth.

“Predicting climate warming impacts across hatchlings, male–female breeding ratios and nesting numbers provides a holistic approach to assessing the conservation concerns for sea turtles in a warming world.”

Agencies/Canadajournal