Moving green turtle nests lowers hatching success even when the sand is the same temperature
Researchers compared 48 green turtle clutches over two nesting seasons on Heron Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef and found that relocated nests had fewer and smaller hatchlings than nests left in place. The same gap appeared between shaded relocated nests and natural nests held at the same temperature.
Science··Night
Reported development
Moving green turtle nests lowers hatching success even when the sand is the same temperature Researchers compared 48 green turtle clutches over two nesting seasons on Heron Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef and found that relocated nests had fewer and smaller hatchlings than nests left in place. The same gap appeared between shaded relocated nests and natural nests held at the same temperature. Relocation is a standard response to nests laid where tides or erosion would drown them, and hatchling sex in turtles is set by incubation temperature. In one season, males made up only 8 per cent of hatchlings from unshaded relocated nests.[1]
Details in the report
Researchers compared 48 green turtle clutches over two nesting seasons on Heron Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef and found that relocated nests had fewer and smaller hatchlings than nests left in place. The same gap appeared between shaded relocated nests and natural nests held at the same temperature. Relocation is a standard response to nests laid where tides or erosion would drown them, and hatchling sex in turtles is set by incubation temperature. In one season, males made up only 8 per cent of hatchlings from unshaded relocated nests. Lead author Davey Dor, a sea turtle ecologist at UNSW, said the team cannot pin the effect to a single factor and lists moisture, sand structure, gas exchange, microbes and nest depth as candidates. Roughly 1 in 1,000 hatchlings survives the 30 years to breeding age; the nest-level differences sit alongside that low survival rate.[1]
Additional context
Moving green turtle nests lowers hatching success even when the sand is the same temperature Researchers compared 48 green turtle clutches over two nesting seasons on Heron Island in the southern Great Barrier Reef and found that relocated nests had fewer and smaller hatchlings than nests left in place. The same gap appeared between shaded relocated nests and natural nests held at the same temperature. Lead author Davey Dor, a sea turtle ecologist at UNSW, said the team cannot pin the effect to a single factor and lists moisture, sand structure, gas exchange, microbes and nest depth as candidates. Roughly 1 in 1,000 hatchlings survives the 30 years to breeding age; the nest-level differences sit alongside that low survival rate.[1]
