I read this interesting journal article about turtle mating
habits this week. The journal article was about how climate change may pose a
unique threat to turtles by producing extreme sex ratio biases that could
ultimately lead to a population’s extinction.
Marine turtles such as the famous Green Turtle are
temperature-dependent sex determined animals. This means that the higher the
temperature, the more females are produced. In marine turtles, high female
skewed hatchling sex ratios already occur and with the predicted increase in
global temperatures, they are predicted to only rise further unless they adapt
otherwise.
A study was conducted and despite the offspring sex ratio of
95% females, there were at least 1.4 reproductive males to every breeding
female. One suggestion was that the males move between aggregations of
receptive females, an inference that was supported by the satellite tracking showing
that the male turtles may have been visiting multiple rookeries.
Therefore because of the male mating patterns, the marine
turtles may have the potential the buffer the disruptive effects on the sex
ratios that climate change has posed on marine turtle populations, many which
are already seriously threatened.
Reference
·
Wright,
L.I., Stokes, K.L., Fuller, W.J., Godley, B.J., McGowan, A., Snape, R.,
Tregenza, T. & Broderick, A.C. 2012, "Turtle mating patterns buffer
against disruptive effects of climate change", Proceedings.
Biological sciences / The Royal Society,vol. 279, no. 1736, pp. 2122-2127.
Ridley Sea Turtle Hatchlings
Photograph by Bill Curtsinger
Green Sea Turtle
Photograph by Tim Larman
