Different male vs. female breeding periodicity helps mitigate offspring sex ratio skews in sea turtles

By G. Hays, A. D. Mazaris, G. Schofield. Frontiers in Marine Science, 2014

172 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The implications of climate change for global biodiversity may be profound with those species with little capacity for adaptation being thought to be particularly vulnerable to warming. A classic case of groups for concern are those animals exhibiting temperature-dependent sex-determination (TSD), such as sea turtles, where climate warming may produce single sex populations and hence extinction. We show that, globally, female biased hatchling sex ratios dominate sea turtle populations (exceeding 3:1 in >50% records), which, at-a-glance, reiterates concerns for extinction. However, we also demonstrate that more frequent breeding by males, empirically shown by satellite tracking 23 individuals and supported by a generalized bio-energetic life history model, generates more balanced operational sex ratios (OSRs). Hence, concerns of increasingly skewed hatchling sex ratios and reduced population viability are less acute than previously thought for sea turtles. In fact, in some scenarios skewed hatchling sex ratios in groups with TSD may be adaptive to ensure optimum OSRs.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/ac062e0a4f13e55d4f11a252887694e666811c30

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

1. Bj Godley
2. AC Broderick
3. G. Hays
4. G. Schofield
5. A. Bolten
6. Bryan P. Wallace
7. K. Bjorndal
8. K. Shanker

In Global and Planetary Change

1. G. Hays
2. Bj Godley
3. AC Broderick
4. P. Casale
5. G. Schofield
6. M. Hamann
7. A. Rees
8. Matthew H. Godfrey

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. G. Hays
2. Bj Godley
3. AC Broderick
4. P. Casale
5. G. Schofield
6. M. Hamann
7. Mariana M. P. B. Fuentes
8. K. Bjorndal

Citations in the corpus

• Sand temperatures for nesting sea turtles in the Caribbean: Implications for hatchling sex ratios in the face of climate change (2016, background): “Furthermore, males breed more frequently than females so that female-biased sex ratios translate to more balanced operational sex ratios (Hays et al., 2014).”
• Advances in the Application of Genetics in Marine Turtle Biology and Conservation (2017, methodology): “…in the spatial distribution of turtles they do not always correlate with MSA results, suggesting that other factors such as swimming behavior play important roles in the distribution of turtles (Putman and He, 2013; Hays et al., 2014a; Naro-Maciel et al., 2014b, 2017; Christiansen et al., 2016).”
• Mediterranean sea turtles: current knowledge and priorities for conservation and research (2018, unknown): “2010a) and is generally much lower when turtles traverse large open areas (Hays et al. 2014a), making migratory corridors rather broad (Fig.”
• Are we working towards global research priorities for management and conservation of sea turtles (2016, background): “Hays et al. (2014b) 68.”