Global warming endangers marine turtles of the Great Barrier reef
A large part of the green sea turtles inhabiting the Northern part of the Great Barrier reef, are all born female, according to Usatoday, citing a study by the scientific journal Current Biology.
99.8% of the young turtles in the North of the Great Barrier reef females. Nearly 87% of adult individuals are also females. The ratio of turtles males of the same species for females in the southern part of the Great Barrier reef is two to one. Off the coast of Queensland lives a total of about 200,000 nesting females of this species.
In the southern part of the Great Barrier reef, where the temperature of the sand cooler, females continue to outnumber men, but much less. The study showed that 67.8% of babies turtles – females among semi-Mature individuals are females and 64.5%.
According to researchers, the increase in the number of females takes place over 20 years because of higher temperatures. And although turtles tend to adapt to climate change, scientists are concerned that the turtles might not keep up with the speed of the current changes. In addition, it is unknown what number of males necessary to maintain the population.
