The beaches of Florida have a sex ratio problem. And it involves turtles. Almost every turtle born on Florida’s beaches over the past four years has been female, say scientists. But why so? And why is it a concern? We take a look. Climate change to blame The increasing population of female baby turtles can be attributed to climate change. The intense heatwave has warmed up the sands on some of the beaches, according to a report in Reuters. As a result, 99 per cent of sea turtle babies are now born female. The temperature of the sand plays a crucial role in determining the gender of the hatchlings. According to the United States National Ocean Service, the sex of baby turtles is determined after fertilisation, when turtle mothers bury their eggs in the sand to incubate before hatching. If a turtle’s eggs incubate below 27 degrees Celsius, the turtle hatchlings will be male. If the eggs incubate above 31 degrees Celsius, the hatchlings will be female. When temperatures are between the two extremes there’s a mix of male and female baby turtles. If the sand is warmer, the ratio of female turtles is higher, scientists say. “As the Earth experienced climate change, increased temperatures could result in skewed and even lethal incubation conditions, which would impact turtle species and other reptiles,” the National Ocean Service said. View this post on InstagramA post shared by The Turtle Hospital (@marathonturtlehospital)// // ]]>Population to become stunned Bette Zirkelbach, manager of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, Florida Keys, said told the news agency Reuters, “The frightening thing is the last four summers in Florida have been the hottest summers on record. ”“Scientists that are studying sea turtle hatchlings and eggs have found no boy sea turtles, so only female sea turtles for the past four years,” added Zirkelbach, whose turtle centre has been operational since 1986. The gender imbalance among sea turtles is a cause of grave concern for researchers, who fear that the population may soon become stunned. The situation at Florida’s beaches is yet another example of the impact of climate change on the ecosystem. Extreme weather conditions have made many species vulnerable, as they find it difficult to adapt. “Over the years, you’re going to see a sharp decline in their population because we just don’t have the genetic diversity… We don’t have the male-to-female ratio needed to be able to have successful breeding sessions,” Melissa Rosales Rodriguez, a sea turtle keeper at the recently opened turtle hospital at the Miami Zoo told Reuters. A similar worry at the Great Barrier ReefHowever, the skewed sex ratio is not seen only in Florida turtles. Australia is facing a similar threat. A 2018 study on green sea turtle populations in the Great Barrier Reef found that only about one per cent of turtle hatchlings were being born male. In the warmer, northern areas of the Great Barrier Reef, the researchers found that 99. 1 per cent of juveniles, 99. 8 per cent of sub-adults and 86. 8 per cent of adult-sized green sea turtles were female, reports Global News. “Combining our results with temperature data show that the northern (Great Barrier Reef) green turtle rookeries have been producing primarily females for more than two decades and that the complete feminisation of this population is possible in the near future,” the study warns. The northern Great Barrier Reef is home to one of the “largest green turtle populations in the world,” according to the study. Green sea turtles take about 25 years to reach the onset of sexual maturity and they are protected by the Endangered Species Act. A threat to other reptiles According to the study, sea turtles are the only reptiles to have their sex determined by the temperature of their nesting environments. Most other turtles fall under this category, says a report on NBC News. Alligators, crocodiles and some lizards also follow the same pattern when it comes to incubation. Clare Holleley, a senior research scientist with the Australian National Wildlife Collection, conducts research on how temperature affects the sex of Australia’s bearded dragon lizards. “Individuals that should be developing as males are developing as females,” she had said in 2018. The sea turtle study showed that rising temperatures are “affecting the biology of organisms in real time”, she added. With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. .