-According to a new research published in Current Biology, rising temperatures around the world can turn Green Sea turtle populations female. As per this study, global warming is turning 99 percent of the baby sea turtles from male to female (Feminisation). And this process in long run can endangered the whole population of green sea turtles.
-Their study is based on an experiment where they found that Raine Island, near hot Australia coast, has been producing almost exclusively female turtles for at least 20 years.
-About 200,000 turtles lay their eggs at the beaches of Raine Island and nearby cays.
-Raine Island is one of the largest gatherings of green sea turtles in the world.
How global warming deciding the sex: According to cell biologists, unlike humans and most other mammals, sex chromosomes do not decide the sex of Green sea turtles. Instead, the temperature outside a turtle egg influences the sex of the growing embryo. Since global temperature is rising year by year, the unusual biological quirk of green sea turtles endangers their future in a warmer world.
-Turtles hatch as a mixture of males and females. For green sea turtles, this temperature is 29.3 degrees Celsius (85 Fahrenheit). A few degrees below 29.3 C, all the sea turtles are born male. Heat up the eggs and only females are born.
-According to the NOAA marine biologists, only a couple of degrees of temperature will transit from 100 percent males to 100 percent females.
-Researchers discovered the first turtle thermometer gene in snapping turtles in 2016.
Turtle and ecosystem: Green sea turtles play important roles in their ecosystems. They graze sea grass beds like cattle at pasture, and the turtles’ nibbles appear to keep plants healthy.
