About This Project

Research question: How has the distribution of green sea turtle hatchling shifted over the past fifty years in the Hawaiian islands, and what environmental factors may influence the alteration of sex

We are studying how the sex distribution of sea turtles has been changing as a result of environmental factors because this will greatly impact the future of the species

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Some species such as sea turtles exhibit temperature dependent sex determination (TDSD), which is typically during the middle third of their incubation period. Warmer temperatures produce female hatchlings and cooler temperatures produce more male hatchlings. There is a pivotal point there is a 50/50 ratio in a nest, and a transitional range of temperatures that in which a nest will have both sexes develop. Climate change could lead to more female sea turtles. This could have devastating effects because potential mating partners will decrease and genetic diversity will suffer. Other factors such as pollution, harvesting, human development, and bycatch may affect the sex ratio if one sex is affected more. Our study will allow us to see the severity of the issue.

What is the significance of this project?

Human activity has been changing the climate around the globe, and as a result, nearly all sea turtle species worldwide are endangered or threatened. Therefore, in order to preserve what is left, it is important to understand how their populations have been changing in response to this climate change. More specifically, the purpose of this experiment is to find if there are environmental factors that influence the gender ratio of sea turtles. A change in overall sex distribution would also change the potential number of breeding pairs, possibly leading to a reduction in population size. If factors like this do indeed exist, we will be able to propose some methods to reduce their effects and help sea turtles recover their populations in the long term.

What are the goals of the project?

The first goal of this project is to identify how sex distribution of green sea turtles has changed over the past 50 years and speculate as to what environmental factors have influenced it. Ultimately, we hope our data can provide concrete evidence to aid marine conservation efforts. In order to achieve these goals, we will look for correlations between shift in sex and overall population size. We will also, hypothesize based on research in primary literature, how environmental effects may have altered the sex and overall population distribution. Finally, we will synthesize an argument based on the results of our surveys and literature reviews that provide evidence highlighting the effects of climate change on sea turtle development that can be used for policy change efforts.