Florida sea turtles are facing a unique problem compounded by climate change: recent heat waves have caused the sand on some beaches to get so hot that nearly all the turtles born were female.
“The scary thing is that the last four summers in Florida have been the hottest summers on record,” said Bette Zirkelbach, manager of Turtle Hospital in Marathon, a city in the Florida Keys, which is a chain of tropical islands that stretches southward. end of state.
“Scientists who are studying sea turtle hatchlings and eggs have not found males, so only female sea turtles for the past four years,” said Zirkelbach, whose turtle center has been operating since 1986.
The trend is just one of many signs that the climate crisis is interfering with Earth’s natural ecosystems, advancing too fast for many species to adapt.
When a female turtle digs a nest on the beach, the temperature of the sand determines the sex of the hatchlings. Zirkelbach said an Australian study showed similar statistics — “99% of new baby sea turtles are female.”
Rather than determining sex during fertilization, the sex of sea turtles and alligators depends on the temperature of the developing eggs, according to the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
If a turtle’s eggs incubate below 27.7ºC, the baby turtles will be male, while if they incubate above 31ºC, they will be female, according to the National Ocean Service (NOAA) website.
“Over the years, you’re going to see a sharp decline in their population because we just don’t have the genetic diversity,” said Melissa Rosales Rodriguez, a sea turtle caretaker at the newly opened Turtle Hospital at the Miami Zoo.
“We don’t have the male-to-female ratio that we need to be able to have successful breeding sessions.”
The two turtle hospitals are also battling tumors in turtles known as fibropapillomatosis, also known as FP. These tumors are contagious to other turtles and can cause death if left untreated.
With the weather affecting the turtles’ future and the disease being so pervasive, Zirkelbach sees the need to save as many turtles as he can and open more rehabilitation centers.
“Turtle Hospital was the first. But unfortunately and fortunately, there is a need all over Florida.”
Source: CNN Brasil
