Climate change plays a key role in the development and survival of oviparous ectotherms such as sea turtles. Higher environmental temperatures are expected to lead to increased production of female hatchlings and potential feminization of many populations, as well as reduced hatching success and hatchling fitness. We investigated how different sand temperatures affect sea turtle embryo mortality, hatchling phenotype, and hatchling predation during their crawl to the sea. The study was conducted in Cabo Verde, the only rookery of the endangered loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the Eastern Atlantic. During three consecutive seasons (2015–2017), 240 loggerhead clutches were exposed to three different incubation temperature regimes created by different sand colours. The warm treatment (mean = 32.3 °C ± 0.5) killed 33% more embryos than the cold treatment (mean = 29.7 °C ± 0.6). Hatchlings from the warm treatment were mostly females, smaller in size, and had lower performance. Hatchling predation by ghost crabs during seaward transit was higher for hatchlings incubated in the warm treatment. Combining embryo mortality and hatchling predation, the rate of female hatchling arrival at the sea was more than twice as high in the cold treatment (34.4 females per 100 eggs) than in the warm treatment (16.0 females per 100 eggs). This increase in mortality caused by warmer incubation temperatures may cancel any potential benefit of a female-biased sex ratio. Conservation planners should consider behavioural adaptations and the potential dispersal of the nesting areas to colder areas to increase resilience of loggerhead turtles to climate change.

中文翻译：

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温暖的孵化温度影响海龟的生存并抵消女性偏见性别比例的好处

气候变化在海龟等卵生变温动物的发育和生存中起着关键作用。预计较高的环境温度会导致雌性幼龟的产量增加和许多种群的潜在女性化，以及孵化成功率和幼体健康度的降低。我们研究了不同的沙温如何影响海龟胚胎死亡率、幼龟表型和幼龟在海中爬行期间的捕食。这项研究是在佛得角进行的，佛得角是东大西洋濒临灭绝的红海龟 (Caretta caretta) 的唯一栖息地。在连续三个季节（2015-2017 年）中，240 只蠵龟被暴露在由不同沙色形成的三种不同孵化温度条件下。温热处理（平均值 = 32.3 °C ± 0. 5) 比冷处理多杀死 33% 的胚胎（平均值 = 29.7 °C ± 0.6）。来自温暖处理的幼鸟大多是雌性，体型较小，性能较低。对于在温暖处理中孵化的幼体，在向海运输过程中被鬼蟹捕食的幼体更高。结合胚胎死亡率和幼体捕食，冷处理（每 100 枚卵 34.4 只雌性）比暖处理（每 100 枚卵 16.0 只雌性）的雌性幼体到达海面的比率高两倍多。这种由孵化温度升高引起的死亡率增加可能会抵消以女性为偏见的性别比例的任何潜在好处。保护规划者应考虑行为适应和筑巢区向寒冷地区的潜在分散，以提高红海龟对气候变化的适应能力。