Understanding how climate change impacts species and ecosystems is integral to conservation. When studying impacts of climate change, warming temperatures are a research focus, with much less attention given to extreme weather events and their impacts. Here, we show how localized, extreme rainfall events can have a major impact on a species that is endangered in many parts of its range. We report incubation temperatures from the world's largest green sea turtle rookery, during a breeding season when two extreme rainfall events occurred. Rainfall caused nest temperatures to drop suddenly and the maximum drop in temperature for each rain‐induced cooling averaged 3.6°C (n = 79 nests, min = 1.0°C, max = 7.4°C). Since green sea turtles have temperature‐dependent sex determination, with low incubation temperatures producing males, such major rainfall events may have a masculinization effect on primary sex ratios. Therefore, in some cases, extreme rainfall events may provide a “get‐out‐of‐jail‐free card” to avoid complete feminization of turtle populations as climate warming continues.

中文翻译：

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极端降雨事件和海龟离合器冷却：面对气候变暖的影响

了解气候变化如何影响物种和生态系统对于保护至关重要。在研究气候变化的影响时，变暖是研究的重点，而对极端天气事件及其影响的关注则少得多。在这里，我们展示了局部的极端降雨事件如何对在其范围的许多部分中受到威胁的物种产生重大影响。我们报告了在繁殖季节发生两个极端降雨事件时，来自世界上最大的绿海龟群的孵化温度。降雨导致鸟巢温度突然下降，每一次降雨诱导的冷却的平均最高温度下降平均为3.6°C（n = 79个巢，最小= 1.0°C，最大= 7.4°C）。由于绿海龟具有与温度有关的性别决定因素，在较低的孵化温度下会产生雄性，因此此类重大降雨事件可能会对初级性别比产生男性化影响。因此，在某些情况下，极端降雨事件可能会提供“摆脱困境”的证件，以避免随着气候变暖的持续而使乌龟种群完全女性化。