Climate Change and Green Sea Turtle Sex Ratio-Preventing Possible Extinction.

ABSTRACT: Climate change poses a threat to species with temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). A recent study on green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) at the northern Great Barrier Reef (GBR) showed a highly female-skewed sex ratio with almost all juvenile turtles being female. This shortage of males might eventually cause population extinction, unless rapid evolutionary rescue, migration, range shifts, or conservation efforts ensure a sufficient number of males. We built a stochastic individual-based model inspired by C. mydas but potentially transferrable to other species with TSD. Pivotal temperature, nest depth, and shading were evolvable traits. Additionally, we considered the effect of crossbreeding between northern and southern GBR, nest site philopatry, and conservation efforts. Among t

SUBMITTER: Blechschmidt J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7288305 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature