BEACH AND NEST TEMPERATURES, AND ESTIMATES OF LEATHERBACK HATCHLING SEX RATIOS AT BIRD’S HEAD PENINSULA, PAPUA, INDONESIA

Abstract

Sex determination and hatching success in sea turtles is temperature dependent. Warmer sand temperatures may skew sea turtle population sex ratios towards predominantly females and high sand temperatures may also decrease hatching success. Therefore, understanding beach and nest temperatures is important for conservation programs, including the evaluation of the long-term impact of temperature changes. We recorded sand temperatures during the boreal and austral summer nesting seasons for eight years (2005 to 2012) to estimate sex ratios and evaluate hatching success at the two primary nesting beaches for the western Pacific leatherback (both located on Bird’s Head Peninsula, Papua, Indonesia). We also measured rainfall, sand albedo, and sand particle size at both beaches during the main nesting months in 2009-2010