Sea Turtles are Nesting Earlier – but Producing Fewer Eggs, Less Often: New Research

A new 17-year study of loggerhead sea turtles nesting in Cabo Verde reveals exactly this tension. Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and conservationists from NGO Associação Projeto Biodiversidade report that warming oceans are triggering earlier nesting in one of the world’s most important loggerhead turtle populations. Yet at the same time, declining ocean productivity is reducing how often females reproduce and how many eggs they lay.

The study, published in Animals, shows that climate change impacts sea turtle reproduction through multiple, interacting pathways.

“Sea turtles are adjusting their timing to warmer temperatures, which shows a remarkable capacity for flexibility,” says Fitra Nugraha, the study’s lead author at Queen Mary University of London. “But at the same time, the part of the Atlantic oceans they depend on for food are becoming less productive – and that is quietly eroding their reproductive output.”

Read more at: Queen Mary University of London

Photo Credit: Charley E. Yen at Queen Mary University of London