Climate change could make more turtles female – but some are starting to adapt
Rising global temperatures are a particularly acute threat for the world’s sea turtles. That’s because the temperature of a turtle’s nest controls the sex of their offspring. Coming ashore onto a beach (often the beach from where they hatched), sea turtles use their flippers to carefully scoop out the sand and create flask-shaped nests in the sand in which they lay their eggs. There is no maternal care for these nests – their success depends solely on the environment. Hotter nests will produce more female hatchlings, but fewer babies will survive into adulthood once temperatures rise above a critical threshold. Unless sea turtles find a way to counteract rising nest temperatures, climate change could produce an increasing number of females and fewer offspring – a frightening scenario for sea turtle biologists like us. Fortunately, we were pleased to discover that green and loggerhead turtles that breed in North Cyprus are arriving earlier in the year to offset some of the impacts of rising incubation temperatures. A green turtle hatchling heads to the sea in Cyprus. …
