Standard Presentation 2024 Australian Marine Sciences Association Annual Meeting combined with NZMSS

A framework to reduce sea turtle feminization in a warming climate: The Turtle Cooling Project (#139)

Elouise S Haskin 1 , Melissa Staines 2 , Caitlin Smith 3 , David Booth 2 , Ian Tibbetts 2 , Graeme Hays 4 , Larissa Young 2 , Ellen Porter 2 , Christine Madden 1
  1. World Wide Fund For Nature, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  2. University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD
  3. University of the Sunshine Coast, Sunshine Coast, QLD
  4. Deakin University, Warnambool, Victoria

Climate change has adverse effects on a myriad of species, especially those with temperature dependent sex determination, where warming temperatures can cause extreme feminisation. Marine turtles are susceptible to climate change, and extreme female biases are being recorded more frequently as the climate crisis continues to worsen. The Turtle Cooling Project was established by WWF-Australia and partners in 2018 to address these concerns by creating an accessible toolkit for on-ground managers to mitigate the climate threat to these culturally, ecologically, and economically important species. Over the past 6 years, the project has conducted several innovative pilot studies to develop a framework which establishes the ‘how’, ‘what’ and ‘why’ of assessing climate susceptible rookeries; as well as the ‘how’ and ‘when’ for mitigation application. More recently, the ‘where’ across the Asia Pacific has been established to help ensure only at-risk rookeries are prioritized for active management. This framework will serve as a tool which draws on our learnings over the past 6 years, which prioritizes accessibility to on-ground managers considering intervention.