【Kalakal (2025)】

Climate change has been disastrous for coral on Kalakal (2025)Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

It's also spelling trouble for the more than 200,000 green sea turtles which make the area home, one of the world's largest populations.

SEE ALSO: Weather and climate disasters cost the U.S. a record $306 billion in 2017

Researchers are seeing young populations in the Great Barrier Reef turn almost entirely female, according to a study published in Current Biology.

Unlike humans and most other mammals whose development of sex is determined by chromosomes, the sex of reptiles (such as turtles) is determined by an egg's incubation temperature.

Warmer temperatures results in a female being born, while cooler temperatures means males. For an exact number of female and males to be born, scientists refer to the pivotal temperature which sits at 29.3 degrees Celsius (84.74 degrees Fahrenheit) for the green sea turtle.

But here's the thing: There's a range of only a few degrees separating the possibility of 100 percent males or females. Certainly a concern, as global warming continues.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

"This research is so important because it provides a new understanding of what these populations are dealing with," the paper's lead author and NOAA marine biologist, Michael Jensen, said in a statement.

"Knowing what the sex ratios in the adult breeding population are today and what they might look like 5, 10 and 20 years from now when these young turtles grow up and become adults is going to be incredibly valuable."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

There are two distinct populations of green sea turtles along the Great Barrier Reef. On warmer northern nesting beaches, researchers noted 99.1 percent of juveniles, 99.8 percent of subadults, and 86.8 percent of adults were female.

Down in the cooler south, the population was 65 percent to 69 percent female. Left unchecked, the lack of males in future could be detrimental to green sea turtle populations.

"First back-to-back mass coral bleaching and now we find that virtually no male northern green turtles are being born," WWF-Australia CEO Dermot O’Gorman said in a statement.

"Finding that there are next to no males among young northern green turtles should ring alarm bells, but all is not lost for this important population. Scientists and wildlife managers now know what they are facing and can come up with practical ways to help the turtles."

In the case of the endangered loggerhead turtle, Queensland's Department of Environment have experimented with shade cloths help keep nests cool and produce more males.

Ultimately, as O'Gorman notes, more needs to be done to achieve ambitious climate change targets -- something much of the world is proving to be not good at committing to, so far.

---

Featured Video For You

---

This robot can plow the snow for you

---

• Deals
• Entertainment
• Digital Culture
• Science
• Shopping
• Games
• Tech
• Life

• A worthless juicer and a Gipper-branded server
• More than half of batteries could be produced by recycled lithium · TechNode
• Meituan shifts focus from GMV to order volume amid declining sales · TechNode
• Chinese automaker GAC partners with Momenta on automated driving software · TechNode
• Sabalenka vs. Svitolina 2025 livestream: Watch Madrid Open for free
• Alibaba yields “good results” from three
• China calls on the Netherlands to uphold market principles amid new Dutch export controls on chip
• Volkswagen may close Chinese joint plant · TechNode
• Classified Zuma spacecraft may have failed after SpaceX launch
• CATL opens R&D center in Hong Kong as part of $128 million investment · TechNode

• Amazon will build a new office in NYC after all
• Google finally ends support for the original Google Glass
• Move over Libra, DAI stablecoin comes to Coinbase's debit Card
• Sprint contractor leaks 261,000 phone bills and bank statements
• 2020 Golden Globe nominations: Streaming services dominate in a big way
• 'Life is Strange 2' Episode 5 tears down walls for video games: Review
• This simple observation about Baby Yoda's first word is going gloriously viral
• Influencer decides violent hijacking best way to elevate online brand
• Head and neck injuries from cell phone use are rising, study finds
• Finding your chill in VR is easy when you can meditate on Mars

• NYT Strands hints, answers for May 1
• Uncertainty looms over next week’s launch of Huawei's HarmonyOS NEXT system · TechNode
• Seasun Games’s Mecha BREAK showcases NVIDIA’s AI NPC technology at Gamescom 2024 · TechNode
• NETA to mass produce first EV featuring CATL’s skateboard chassis · TechNode
• Best monitor deal: Get $350 off the Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 gaming monitor at B&H Photo
• The development of Black Myth: Wukong Xbox version may face memory leak issue · TechNode
• JD prepares new round pay hike to retail staff in fourth such notice in 2024 · TechNode
• Chinese EV maker Xpeng reportedly turns to hybrids · TechNode
• The Made in America iPhone: How much would it cost?
• China’s authority NPPA approves 109 new games licenses for September · TechNode

• Mastering Gmail Search
• China calls on the Netherlands to uphold market principles amid new Dutch export controls on chip
• BYD to introduce premium SUV, sedan, and more to Japan: report · TechNode
• Tesla China to introduce redesigned Model Y crossovers, including a seven
• Anker raises Amazon prices amid US tariffs
• China’s Chery to mass
• iFLYTEK launches Spark Multilingual Model and Spark 4.0 Turbo · TechNode
• China's Chery reportedly mulls second European factory in the UK · TechNode
• Weather app glitch makes it look like hell is basically freezing over
• The development of Black Myth: Wukong Xbox version may face memory leak issue · TechNode