Climate change can wipe out a coinage ’s solid food reference anddestroy its habitat , but rising temperature are having a more surprising effect on green sea turtles that ’s no less devastating . According to a report inCurrent Biology[PDF ] , up to 99.8 percent of the green sea turtles carry on certain beaches in Australia are distaff , a direct result of the area ’s warmer - than - average temps .
A turtle ’s sexual practice is ascertain by its environment . AsThe Washington Postreports , a clench of eggs that incubates in backbone that ’s roughly 85 ° F will produce about 50 percent females and 50 pct males . A few degrees cool and the wad skews male ; a second hotter and it ’s majority female .
This evolutionary mechanism tends to balance itself out , but on beaches in northeast Australia , it ’s being hijacked by clime alteration . In parliamentary procedure to gauge the size of the impingement , research worker with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration try the nesting beach along the coast of Australia conterminous to the Great Barrier Reef , the part that has check the most dramatic temperature rise andcoral bleaching . What they base on the warm northerly beaches was the worst - case scenario : 99.1 percent of juvenile person , 99.8 percent of subadults , and 86.8 pct of the overall population was female . Data taken from the southerly beach are only slightly less alarming : polo-neck hatched in the relatively cooler sands there were still 65 to 69 per centum female person . According to the study ’s author , " the pure feminization of this universe is potential in the near future . " That would pretend the metal money ' future universe ontogeny .
Green ocean turtles are n’t the only mintage vulnerable to huge sexual practice sack by elbow room of climate change . Many other reptiles also swear on temperature - dependentsex determinationto keep populations balanced . But above - ordinary temperatures can do more harm beyond messing with gender developing : It can also kill embryos before they have the luck to hatch . The authors emphasize that cypher out how to govern backbone temperature at key rookeries will be all important be active forward . If not , the species could look " a universe collapse — or even quenching . "
