Sea turtles long term survival threatened by climate change

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-02-08 11:01

Australia; VIC; QLD; WA

Sea turtles' long-term survival may be threatened by rising temperatures, even if they lay eggs at a cooler time of the year, according to Australian research. The study looked at whether sea turtles could shift their egg-laying to a cooler time of year to overcome the impacts of climate change. They found that even with the most extreme shift reported to date, it may not be enough for sea turtles to combat the increase in temperatures. The sex of turtle babies is determined by the temperature of the nest - hotter nests produce more girls and cooler nests more boys, so this could lead to the sea turtle population becoming increasingly female-dominated. There is also a lower hatching success at higher temperatures and the authors say their study raises concerns for the long-term survival of this iconic animal group.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Summary: Climate warming is impacting sea turtle populations around the world. We investigated whether warming might be avoided by shifting sea turtle nesting seasons to a cooler part of the year. We show that even with the most extreme shift reported to date, temperatures will continue to increase at the majority of turtle nesting sites as the climate warms. Our results raise concerns for the long-term survival of this iconic animal group.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page Please link to the article in online versions of your report (the URL will go live after the embargo ends).

Journal/
conference: Royal Society Open Science

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Deakin University

Funder: This work was supported by the Bertarelli Foundation as part of the Bertarelli Programme in Marine Science (grant no. BPMS-2017-4).

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