An overwhelming scientific consensus affirms that for thousands of species across the globe, climate change is an immediate and existential threat.
For the loggerhead turtle, whose vast range extends from the chilly shores of Newfoundland to the blistering beaches of Australia, the story isn’t so cut and dried.
New research from conservation biologists at Florida State University and their collaborators suggests that while some loggerheads will suffer from the effects of a changing climate, populations in certain nesting areas could stand to reap important short-term benefits from the shifting environmental conditions.
In an investigation of 17 loggerhead turtle nesting beaches along the coast of Brazil, scientists found that hatchling production —the rate of successful hatching and emergence of hatchling turtles — could receive a boost in temperate areas forecasted to warm under climate change. But those improvements could be relatively short lived.
Read more at Florida State University
Image: Loggerhead turtles live all over the world. A warming climate could bring them short-term benefits. CREDIT: Mariana Fuentes / Florida State University