‘Complete feminisation’ of northern
population is possible in near future, researchers find
Mon 8 Jan ‘18 17.00 GMTLast
modified on Mon 8 Jan ‘18 22.00 GMT
Rising temperatures are turning almost all
green sea turtles in a Great
Barrier Reef population female, new research has found.
The scientific paper warned the skewed ratio
could threaten the population’s future.
Sea turtles are among species with
temperature dependent sex-determination and the proportion of female hatchlings
increases when nests are in warmer sands.
Tuesday’s paper, from the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, California State University and Worldwide Fund
for Nature Australia, is published in Current Biology. It examined two
genetically distinct populations of turtles on the reef, finding the northern
group of about 200,000 animals was overwhelmingly female.
While the southern population was 65%-69%
female, females in the northern group accounted for 99.1% of juveniles, 99.8%
of subadults and 86.8% of adults.
“Combining our results with temperature data
show that the northern GBR green turtle rookeries have been producing primarily
females for more than two decades and that the complete feminisation of this
population is possible in the near future,” the paper said.
The temperature at which the turtles will
produce male or female hatchlings is heritable, the paper said, but tipped to
produce 100% male or 100% female hatchlings within a range of just a few
degrees.
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