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Mª Dulce Branquinho

Turtles in trouble as warming beaches turn eggs female

Can you imagine if the temperature decided whether you were born a girl or a boy?

Well that's exactly what happens with turtles.

But experts in Australia are now worried that rising temperatures over time could cause chaos for turtle populations by creating too many female turtles.

From CBBC Newsround

Researchers investigating the impact of rising temperatures on sea turtles are travelling to some of the most remote beaches in Australia to work out which populations are at risk of being feminised into extinction.

In a phenomenon being seen worldwide, warming temperatures are resulting in an increasing number of turtle eggs hatching female.

The race is now on to work out which rookeries are most at risk in Australia, with a University of Western Australia (UWA) team focused on turtle breeding areas on the Kimberley coast.

"This is very fundamental research, and will give us insights fifty years ahead about whether sex ratios will change, where distributions might shift to, and what impact climate change is going to have," team leader Nicki Mitchell said.

The tipping point for sex determination in turtles is thought to be just over 29 degrees Celsius. If the beach sand is any warmer the incubating eggs will hatch female, however if it is any cooler, the hatchlings will be male.

The problem is that beaches are heating up across much of the globe, and that could have big implications for turtle rookeries.

Researcher Blair Bentley said whole populations could be at risk.

"If it keeps getting warmer there are going to be more females being produced, and over time the males will keep dying at a greater rate than they are being replenished, so it's what's called demographic collapse," he said.

"There might still be males in the population, but there'll be far more females, and reproductive success will go down significantly."

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