Six of the seven sea turtle species are endangered because of myriad factors including climate change, poaching, and habitat destruction. Moving turtle eggs from beaches into hatcheries is a common practice to protect them from some of these threats—at least until they hatch. But a study published June 13 in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution finds that this off-site or ex situ incubation may negatively affect the developing turtles.
A team of Mexico-based researchers examined 150 sea turtles to determine how ex situ incubation affects female hatchling development. Previous research from this team found that this strategy negatively affects male gonads, brains, body size, and fitness, but they wanted to test whether this applied to female hatchlings too.
The team selected ten random olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) nests to study from a beach in Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, México. “We selected the marine turtles of these species because they are in ...
