Turtles offer early warning from a warming Mediterranean ahead of COP31

Sea turtle hatchlings along Turkey’s Mediterranean coast are being monitored as a living indicator of how climate change is reshaping ecosystems, ahead of COP31 next month. Under moonlight at the Iztuzu sandbar, loggerhead turtles nest in sand protected by pyramid-shaped cages from foxes. Marine conservation will be a key theme of the UN climate summit in Antalya, and researchers say turtles act as a “rapid warning system” because their development depends on both land and sea. Studies cited by the article link warming temperatures to earlier nesting, shorter incubation and a female-heavy outcome: at Patara, about 70% of hatchlings were estimated to be female. At Iztuzu, nest temperatures rose nearly 1°C over 20 years, and scientists warn continued warming could reduce male numbers and increase embryo mortality above 30°C.