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Fuentes MMPB, Santos AJB, Abreu-Grobois A, Briseño-Dueñas R, Al-Khayat J, Hamza S, Saliba S, Anderson D, Rusenko KW, Mitchell NJ, Gammon M, Bentley BP, Beton D, Booth DTB, Broderick AC, Colman LP, Snape RTE, Calderon-Campuzano MF, Cuevas E, Lopez-Castro MC, Flores-Aguirre CD, Mendez de la Cruz F, Segura-Garcia Y, Ruiz-Garcia A, Fossette S, Gatto CR, Reina RD, Girondot M, Godfrey M, Guzman-Hernandez V, Hart CE, Kaska Y, Lara PH, Marcovaldi MAGD, LeBlanc AM, Rostal D, Liles MJ, Wyneken J, Lolavar A, Williamson SA, Manoharakrishnan M, Pusapati C, Chatting M, Mohd Salleh S, Patricio AR, Regalla A, Restrepo J, Garcia R, Santidrián Tomillo P, Sezgin C, Shanker K, Tapilatu F, Turkozan O, Valverde RA, Williams K, Yilmaz C, Tolen N, Nel R, Tucek J, Legouvello D, Rivas ML, Gaspar C, Touron M, Genet Q, Salmon M, Araujo MR, Freire JB, Castheloge VD, Jesus PR, Ferreira PD, Paladino FV, Montero-Flores D, Sozbilen D, Monsinjon JR. Adaptation of sea turtles to climate warming: Will phenological responses be sufficient to counteract changes in reproductive output? GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2024; 30:e16991. [PMID: 37905464 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
Sea turtles are vulnerable to climate change since their reproductive output is influenced by incubating temperatures, with warmer temperatures causing lower hatching success and increased feminization of embryos. Their ability to cope with projected increases in ambient temperatures will depend on their capacity to adapt to shifts in climatic regimes. Here, we assessed the extent to which phenological shifts could mitigate impacts from increases in ambient temperatures (from 1.5 to 3°C in air temperatures and from 1.4 to 2.3°C in sea surface temperatures by 2100 at our sites) on four species of sea turtles, under a "middle of the road" scenario (SSP2-4.5). Sand temperatures at sea turtle nesting sites are projected to increase from 0.58 to 4.17°C by 2100 and expected shifts in nesting of 26-43 days earlier will not be sufficient to maintain current incubation temperatures at 7 (29%) of our sites, hatching success rates at 10 (42%) of our sites, with current trends in hatchling sex ratio being able to be maintained at half of the sites. We also calculated the phenological shifts that would be required (both backward for an earlier shift in nesting and forward for a later shift) to keep up with present-day incubation temperatures, hatching success rates, and sex ratios. The required shifts backward in nesting for incubation temperatures ranged from -20 to -191 days, whereas the required shifts forward ranged from +54 to +180 days. However, for half of the sites, no matter the shift the median incubation temperature will always be warmer than the 75th percentile of current ranges. Given that phenological shifts will not be able to ameliorate predicted changes in temperature, hatching success and sex ratio at most sites, turtles may need to use other adaptive responses and/or there is the need to enhance sea turtle resilience to climate warming.
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Affiliation(s)
- M M P B Fuentes
- Marine Turtle Research, Ecology, and Conservation Group, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
| | - A J B Santos
- Marine Turtle Research, Ecology, and Conservation Group, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
| | - A Abreu-Grobois
- Unidad Academica Mazatlan, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, UNAM, Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico
| | - R Briseño-Dueñas
- Unidad Academica Mazatlan, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia, UNAM, Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico
| | - J Al-Khayat
- Environmental Science Centre, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - S Hamza
- Environmental Science Centre, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - S Saliba
- Environmental Science Centre, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
| | - D Anderson
- Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
| | - K W Rusenko
- Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
| | - N J Mitchell
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - M Gammon
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
| | - B P Bentley
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
- Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
| | - D Beton
- Society for Protection of Turtles, Gonyeli, Northern Cyprus
| | - D T B Booth
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - A C Broderick
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - L P Colman
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - R T E Snape
- Society for Protection of Turtles, Gonyeli, Northern Cyprus
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
| | - M F Calderon-Campuzano
- Programa de Protección y Conservación de Tortugas Marinas, Convenio FONATUR-Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología-UNAM, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico
| | - E Cuevas
- Instituto de Investigaciones Oceanologicas, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Ensenada, Mexico
| | - M C Lopez-Castro
- Pronatura Península de Yucatán, A. C. Programa para la Conservación de la Tortuga Marina, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico
| | - C D Flores-Aguirre
- Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - F Mendez de la Cruz
- Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - Y Segura-Garcia
- Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - A Ruiz-Garcia
- Departamento de Zoología, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico
| | - S Fossette
- School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Western Australia, Australia
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science, Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, Kensington, Western Australia, Australia
| | - C R Gatto
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - R D Reina
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
| | - M Girondot
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Ecologie Systématique et Evolution, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - M Godfrey
- North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
- Duke Marine Laboratory, Nicholas School of Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, North Carolina, USA
- Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
| | | | - C E Hart
- Centro de Investigaciones Oceánicas del Mar de Cortés-Gran Acuario de Mazatlán, Mazatlán, Mexico
| | - Y Kaska
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey
| | - P H Lara
- Fundação Projeto Tamar, Florianópolis, Brazil
| | | | - A M LeBlanc
- Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA
| | - D Rostal
- Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia, USA
| | - M J Liles
- Asociacion ProCosta, San Salvador, El Salvador
| | - J Wyneken
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
| | - A Lolavar
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
| | - S A Williamson
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
| | | | | | - M Chatting
- Environmental Science Centre, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
- School of Civil Engineering, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - S Mohd Salleh
- School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
| | - A R Patricio
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK
- Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre/ARNET-Aquatic Research Network, Ispa-Instituto Universitário de Ciências Psicológicas, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - A Regalla
- Instituto da Biodiversidade e das Áreas Protegidas, Dr. Alfredo Simão da Silva (IBAP), Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
| | - J Restrepo
- Sea Turtle Conservancy, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | - R Garcia
- Sea Turtle Conservancy, Gainesville, Florida, USA
| | | | - C Sezgin
- Sea Turtle Research, Rescue and Rehabilitation Center (DEKAMER), Mugla, Turkey
| | - K Shanker
- Dakshin Foundation, Bangalore, India
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
| | - F Tapilatu
- Research Center of Pacific Marine Resources-University of Papua (UNIPA), Manokwari, Papua Barat, Indonesia
| | - O Turkozan
- Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Aydın, Turkey
| | - R A Valverde
- Sea Turtle Conservancy, Gainesville, Florida, USA
- Biological Sciences, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, Louisiana, USA
| | - K Williams
- Caretta Research Project, Savannah, Georgia, USA
| | - C Yilmaz
- Hakkari University, Vocational School of Health Services, Hakkari, Turkey
| | - N Tolen
- Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, Malaysia
| | - R Nel
- Department of Zoology, Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - J Tucek
- Department of Zoology, Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - D Legouvello
- Department of Zoology, Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Nelson Mandela University, Gqeberha, South Africa
| | - M L Rivas
- Department of Biology, University of Cadiz, Cadiz, Spain
| | - C Gaspar
- Te Mana O Te Moana, Moorea-Maiao, French Polynesia
| | - M Touron
- Te Mana O Te Moana, Moorea-Maiao, French Polynesia
| | - Q Genet
- Te Mana O Te Moana, Moorea-Maiao, French Polynesia
| | - M Salmon
- Department of Biological Sciences, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA
| | - M R Araujo
- Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales, San Salvador, El Salvador
| | - J B Freire
- Fundação Espírito Santense de Tecnologia-FEST, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
| | | | - P R Jesus
- Econservation Estudos e Projetos Ambientais, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
| | - P D Ferreira
- Departamento de Gemologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil
| | - F V Paladino
- Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
| | | | - D Sozbilen
- Department of Veterinary, Acıpayam Vocational School, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey
| | - J R Monsinjon
- Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), Délégation Océan Indien (DOI), Le Port, La Réunion, France
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Staines MN, Versace H, Laloë JO, Smith CE, Madden Hof CA, Booth DT, Tibbetts IR, Hays GC. Short-term resilience to climate-induced temperature increases for equatorial sea turtle populations. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:6546-6557. [PMID: 37795641 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
Projection models are being increasingly used to manage threatened taxa by estimating their responses to climate change. Sea turtles are particularly susceptible to climate change as they have temperature-dependent sex determination and increased sand temperatures on nesting beaches could result in the 'feminisation' of hatchling sex ratios for some populations. This study modelled likely long-term trends in sand temperatures and hatchling sex ratios at an equatorial nesting site for endangered green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and critically endangered hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata). A total of 1078 days of sand temperature data were collected from 28 logger deployments at nest depth between 2018 and 2022 in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Long-term trends in sand temperature were generated from a model using air temperature as an environmental proxy. The influence of rainfall and seasonal variation on sand temperature was also investigated. Between 1960 and 2019, we estimated that sand temperature increased by ~0.6°C and the average hatchling sex ratio was relatively balanced (46.2% female, SD = 10.7). No trends were observed in historical rainfall anomalies and projections indicated no further changes to rainfall until 2100. Therefore, the sex ratio models were unlikely to be influenced by changing rainfall patterns. A relatively balanced sex ratio such as this is starkly different to the extremely female-skewed hatchling sex ratio (>99% female) reported for another Coral Sea nesting site, Raine Island (~850 km West). This PNG nesting site is likely rare in the global context, as it is less threatened by climate-induced feminisation. Although there is no current need for 'cooling' interventions, the mean projected sex ratios for 2020-2100 were estimated 76%-87% female, so future interventions may be required to increase male production. Our use of long-term sand temperature and rainfall trends has advanced our understanding of climate change impacts on sea turtles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa N Staines
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Hayley Versace
- Conflict Islands Conservation Initiative, Alotau, Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea
| | - Jacques-Olivier Laloë
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
| | - Caitlin E Smith
- World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Hervey Bay, Australia
| | | | - David T Booth
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Ian R Tibbetts
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Graeme C Hays
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
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Patrício AR, Hawkes LA, Monsinjon JR, Godley BJ, Fuentes MMPB. Climate change and marine turtles: recent advances and future directions. ENDANGER SPECIES RES 2021. [DOI: 10.3354/esr01110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Climate change is a threat to marine turtles that is expected to affect all of their life stages. To guide future research, we conducted a review of the most recent literature on this topic, highlighting knowledge gains and research gaps since a similar previous review in 2009. Most research has been focussed on the terrestrial life history phase, where expected impacts will range from habitat loss and decreased reproductive success to feminization of populations, but changes in reproductive periodicity, shifts in latitudinal ranges, and changes in foraging success are all expected in the marine life history phase. Models have been proposed to improve estimates of primary sex ratios, while technological advances promise a better understanding of how climate can influence different life stages and habitats. We suggest a number of research priorities for an improved understanding of how climate change may impact marine turtles, including: improved estimates of primary sex ratios, assessments of the implications of female-biased sex ratios and reduced male production, assessments of the variability in upper thermal limits of clutches, models of beach sediment movement under sea level rise, and assessments of impacts on foraging grounds. Lastly, we suggest that it is not yet possible to recommend manipulating aspects of turtle nesting ecology, as the evidence base with which to understand the results of such interventions is not robust enough, but that strategies for mitigation of stressors should be helpful, providing they consider the synergistic effects of climate change and other anthropogenic-induced threats to marine turtles, and focus on increasing resilience.
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Affiliation(s)
- AR Patrício
- MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, ISPA - Instituto Universitário, 1149-041 Lisbon, Portugal
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
| | - LA Hawkes
- Hatherley Laboratories, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Streatham Campus, Exeter EX4 4PS, UK
| | - JR Monsinjon
- Department of Zoology and Entomology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6139, South Africa
| | - BJ Godley
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
| | - MMPB Fuentes
- Marine Turtle Research, Ecology and Conservation Group, Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
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