Why is Climate Change Effecting the Gender of Baby Sea Turtles?

“Sea turtle genders are not effected like humans are, human genders are affected by the amount of chromosomes we have, and turtles and other reptiles such as crocodiles and alligators are affected by the temperature of when the eggs were developing.”

—Daanish

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Why is climate change affecting the gender of Baby Sea Turtles?

_____Daanish_____

We live in a day and age where the world has been polluted and destroyed and climate change is a major problem for us. However, it’s not just affecting us humans. Sea turtles are very important to the world's oceans, keeping the seagrass beds and coral reefs healthy, but they are being affected massively even before they are born. Sea turtles are reptiles, which means they lay eggs and Sea Turtles lay their eggs in the sand, normally on a beach. ​(Deleniv "Why climate change is creating more female sea turtles and crocodiles"

2020).​ Sea turtle genders are not affected like humans are, humans genders are affected by the amount of chromosomes we have, and turtles and other reptiles such as crocodiles and alligators are affected by the temperature of when the eggs were developing. Research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration​ (​US Department of Commerce & National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2017​)​ shows that if turtles eggs incubate below 81.86 fahrenheit or 27.7 celsius, the turtle will be a male and if turtle eggs incubate over a temperature of 87.8 fahrenheit or 31 degrees the turtle will be female and anywhere between the two will be a mix of the two. Climate Change has recently caused the temperatures of sand to sky rocket causing predominantly female eggs to hatch. As an example of this, in 2018 on an island east of Australia called Raine Island, there was a massive influx of turtle eggs on the beach. There were 18,000 turtles all across the island and for the last 20 years it has been producing almost exclusively female eggs. A team of scientist’s on Raine Island reported that female turtles outnumbered males 116 to 1. ​(Newbert "99% of These Sea Turtles Are Turning Female-Here's Why" 2018​). If this pattern continues to exist and female eggs are being produced this highly, it is very likely that males sea turtles could go extinct which will end up affecting the species altogether.

Citations:

Balaraman, Kavya. “Is Climate Change Producing Too Many Female Sea Turtles?” Scientific American, Scientific American, 3 Apr. 2017,

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www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-climate-change-producing-too-many-female-sea-turtl es/. Deleniv.

_____Daanish_____

“Why Climate Change Is Creating More Female Sea Turtles and Crocodiles.” New Scientist, 19 Feb. 2020, www.newscientist.com/article/mg24532700-800-why-climate-change-is-creating-more-femal e-sea-turtles-and-crocodiles/.

Newbert, Chris. “99% Of These Sea Turtles Are Turning Female-Here's Why.” 99% Of Australian Green Sea Turtles Studied Turning Female From Climate Change, 8 Jan. 2018, www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/01/australia-green-sea-turtles-turning-female-clim ate-change-raine-island-sex-temperature/.

Skerry, Brian. “Sea Turtles Are Being Born Mostly Female Due to Warming-Will They Survive?” National Geographic, 4 Apr. 2019, www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/sea-turtle-sex-ratio-crisis-from-climate -change-has-hope/.

“ABQtodo.” ABQtodo, 23 May 2019, https://www.abqtodo.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/seaturtle.jpg.

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