2023-06-29 06:00:04
According to a recent study conducted by Duke University, it seems that warmer temperatures not only influence the sex of turtles, but also their ability to reproduce. These discoveries could explain why the determination of sex (The word sex often designates the reproductive system, or the sexual act and the…) depends on the temperature (The temperature is a physical quantity measured using a thermometer and…) in many animals, and how this could evolve in a warming world.
A sweet water turtle called a red-eared turtle.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The research, published June 23 in the journal Current Biology, showed that the number of “germ cells” (pre-eggs) carried by a embryo (An embryo (from ancient Greek ἔμϐρυον / embruon) is…) increases with higher incubation temperatures (Incubation is the period during which the eggs are brooded, so as to maintain them…). These germ cells even play a role in the female becoming of the embryo.
According to the study’s lead author, Blanche Capel, “Temperature-mediated sex determination is not a single mechanism. Higher temperatures appear to influence sex determination in a stepwise manner across multiple cell types in the body. ’embryo.”
These more abundant germ cells appear to drive feminization, according to Boris Tezak, a postdoctoral researcher in Capel’s lab. “The temperatures that produce females are also those that increase the number of germ cells,” he said.
To confirm this idea, the researchers removed some germ cells from red-eared trachemid embryos reared at an intermediate temperature that should have produced an equal gender split. They then observed more males than expected.
This new understanding could explain why temperature-dependent sex determination persists despite climatic variations. “A female that hatches with more germ cells is more likely to reproduce. This increases her potential to carry more eggs,” Boris Tezak said.
As global temperatures continue to rise, the question remains: what will happen to turtles and other temperature-sensitive breeding species?
There seems to be an “ideal point (In mathematics, an ideal is an algebraic structure defined in a ring….)” of temperature. “There is a short beach (Geomorphology defines a beach as an ‘accumulation on the seashore of…) where you get a lot of germ cells, and beyond that you start to see declines,” added Blanche Capel. Experiments conducted at 33.5 degrees Celsius, just two and a half degrees warmer than the optimum temperature for females, produced abnormal embryos.
These findings could have important implications for our understanding of the impact of global warming on wildlife.
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