El Niño not good for dwindling leatherback sea turtles

Leatherback sea turtle closeup. Photo by Scott R. Benson, NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center.

Study suggests global warming will add to pressure on wide-ranging reptiles

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Along with weather woes like droughts or excessive moisture, El Niño has been linked with higher mortality rates in populations of critically endangered leatherback sea turtles.

Those impacts could be exacerbated by global warming, may lead to more frequent warm and dry spells in key breeding areas like Northwest Costa Rica, according to researchers with Drexel University.

“Climate change may threaten survival of leatherback populations even if other factors driving population declines are removed,” the researchers wrote in a paper published online in the open access journal PLoS ONE. (more…)

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