New Research Provides Hope for Green Sea Turtles Threatened by Climate Change
Scientists have long feared that green sea turtles are facing the threat of a “man drought”, as hotter sand temperatures, due to climate change, produce far more female hatchlings than males, leading to concern the population could decline.
However, drone surveys of Heron Island, in Queensland, Australia, have found there are just as many males as females turning up to mate.
The new research, published in the international journal ‘Marine Biology’ in November, is good news for the southern Great Barrier Reef population of green turtles.
“Females require huge amounts of energy to reproduce, meaning they can only breed every 5 to 7 years whereas males can breed every 2 to 3 years,” said lead author, University of Queensland PhD candidate, Melissa Staines.
“The equal number of breeding males and females was despite an estimate that female hatchlings outnumber the amount of males produced from the region.
In October 2021, during the peak of the breeding season, the research team used drones to study 38 male and 36 female turtles engaging in courtship and breeding behaviours.
In 2018, scientists revealed that for the past few decades green turtles hatching on Raine Island – about 1500 km north of Heron Island – have been more than 99 percent female, WWF said.
Video shows researchers taking part in the Heron Island turtle cooling project. Credit: WWF-Australia via Storyful
相關影片推薦
- 1:44「阿姨 妳拿我的雞腿幹嘛」 抓包婦人偷雞腿TVBS新聞網影音56,269 次觀看・18 小時前
- 2:41日本90年代奇葩真人秀 諧星被迫全裸關房間逾一年 20年後紀錄片回顧創傷歷程Yahoo奇摩(國際通)28,052 次觀看・1 天前
- 2:21花9千網購買到假貨 利菁PO文揭兩步驟追款華視影音28,203 次觀看・15 小時前
- 1:0672歲李立群曬照慶祝生日 33歲女兒李元元罕見出鏡娛樂星聞11,024 次觀看・12 小時前
- 1:4131歲接家業! 殷琪婚姻兩度觸礁又未婚生子民視影音498,031 次觀看・1 天前
- 1:28兒媳搶家產 打人 還趕公公出門? 竹北紅布條引熱議東森新聞影音137,794 次觀看・18 小時前
- 1:35已婚男帶女子住高檔摩鐵 突然猝死妻錯愕|#鏡新聞鏡新聞5,923 次觀看・14 小時前
- 1:18具荷拉鉅額遺產媽媽拿不到! 判決出爐網友狂讚:遲來的正義娛樂星聞421,828 次觀看・4 天前
- 1:24志效綜藝玩哏「子瑜道歉事件」引眾怒 陶晶瑩不忍發聲:快變冷凍水餃娛樂星聞12,988 次觀看・19 小時前
- 2:18乖乖存穩穩賺 鎖定「含金湯匙」ETF進擊的荷包56,242 次觀看・2 天前