Climate Change Is Resulting In Dragons Changing Sex – Possibly Leading To Extinction
The hotter temperatures have taken a toll on many things around the world however it is now causing bearded dragons to change their sex.
Dragons that are genetically male are hatching as females and are reproducing. This means whether the Australian central reptile grows up to be a male or a female, it no longer depends on its genetics but also on the temperature of the nest that it’s incubated in.
Typically reptiles’ genders are determined by the temperature during incubation and until now, bearded dragons had their gender based on chromosomes.
Reptiles’ chromosomes are determined by Z and W instead of X and Y. Males are ZZ and females ZW.
Holleley and colleagues have examined the genetic sex marker of 131 wild bearded dragons in Queensland province and discovered that 11 of them were female outwardly and able to have offspring, however, had the ZZ chromosomes of a genetic male.
These findings were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B and have overturned assumptions that sex is caused either by genetics or simply by the environment.
“This is the first time we have proved that sex reversal happens in the wild in any reptile at all,” the lead author of the study, Clare Holleley stated.
The 11 reptiles are a small sample size and the team will continue to expand on the research.
Scientists aren’t sure why the lizards evolved this ability to change sex, however, one reason may be to give them more flexibility to live in different environments. However, this could also lead to the dragons being more susceptible to the effects of climate change, due to the population becoming 100% female.
“If the climate kept on warming four to five degrees, it could be quite catastrophic, and could drive the lizards to extinction,” ecologist Arthur Georges expressed.
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