INCREASINGLY frequent and ferocious hurricanes, fuelled by warming oceans, could pose a threat to sea turtles by destroying their nests.
Kyle Van Houtan of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, analysed survey data collected over a decade from sea turtle nests on the beaches of Dry Tortugas National Park, an island chain off the Florida coast. During that time, tropical storm surges frequently destroyed turtle nests by ejecting eggs from the sand or drenching them in salt water.
Nest destruction by storms seems to be getting more frequent. Between 1995 and 2004, the proportion of surviving nests dropped by more than…
