CLEARWATER, Fla. — If it is a battle of the sexes, the female sea turtles are successful.
“We are seeing an increase in terms of the female hatchlings compared to her male hatchlings,” stated Clearwater Marine Aquarium Veterinarian Shelly Marquardt.
She stated it is all due to the weather.
“For sea turtle hatchlings, their sex is actually determined by the temperature of the sand. So the warmer the temperatures, you’re going to get female eggs, the colder the temperatures, you get male, the eggs.”
In July, Tampa Bay averaged 86 degrees, in accordance to The National Weather Service. It’s a unbroken pattern of rising temperatures.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration stated if a turtle’s eggs incubate beneath 81.8 levels it will be born male. Above that temperature, it should be female. All of this takes place throughout the hottest months.
“Usually for us we’re seeing our hatchlings from about July to probably about end of October,” stated Marquardt.
The skewed sexes of sea turtles is one instance of rising temperature averages. University of South Florida Professor Feng Hao stated the hotter weather is all due to our power sources.
“We consume a large amount of fossil fuels to support our economy and because we produce a large amount of CO2 emissions. Those CO2 emissions cause climate change and then we have the warmer weather,” stated Hao.
Hao stated hotter weather is only one instance. Climate change can lead to more excessive weather occasions, like extreme flooding and hurricanes. But there are methods to cut back these probabilities.
“We can reduce our consumption of fossil fuels, we can kind of re-orient to the renewable energy. Solar, wind, that can support our energy demand but also reduce the carbon dioxide emissions,” he stated.
As for the sea turtles, there are research occurring now to decide the affect of more female turtles than males. But we cannot get solutions rapidly. The good news is for now; it is not posing a menace to the inhabitants.
“Really time is going to tell. Definitely since only one in 1000 sea turtles make it. We don’t necessarily need there to be an equal distribution of these animals, we just need there to be an appropriate amount for breeding. And so honestly, you can make the argument that females, you know, more females are beneficial for, you know, increased nesting,” stated Marquardt.