TY - JOUR
T1 - A novel incubator to simulate the natural thermal environment of sea turtle eggs
AU - López-Correa, Jessica
AU - Ángel Porta-Gándara, Miguel
AU - Gutiérrez, Joaquín
AU - Gómez-Muñoz, Victor M.
PY - 2010/4
Y1 - 2010/4
N2 - A novel sea turtle egg incubator was developed in which the heating element is placed above the clutch, which more closely simulates solar heating in nature. An electronic thermometer in conjunction with a thermostat located in sand beneath a heater plate was used to obtain the desired temperature in the placed eggs, as compared to previous methods of controlling global temperature within the interior of a chamber. To test the new incubator, Lepidochelys olivacea eggs were incubated under different thermal conditions in order to identify the temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) period more precisely. Four incubation experiments were designed to test the performance of the incubator where the temperature was lowered from 32 to 28 °C during 60 h and then reestablished at 32 °C until hatching occurred. A significant mean hatching success rate of 89.6% was obtained for all the experiments. The main result from these preliminary findings was that the sex determination period to produce males was reduced from 15 (days 15-30) to eight days (days 19-27). Overall, the incubator provides precise control and simulates a natural thermal environment that may improve control of TSD in sea turtles.
AB - A novel sea turtle egg incubator was developed in which the heating element is placed above the clutch, which more closely simulates solar heating in nature. An electronic thermometer in conjunction with a thermostat located in sand beneath a heater plate was used to obtain the desired temperature in the placed eggs, as compared to previous methods of controlling global temperature within the interior of a chamber. To test the new incubator, Lepidochelys olivacea eggs were incubated under different thermal conditions in order to identify the temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) period more precisely. Four incubation experiments were designed to test the performance of the incubator where the temperature was lowered from 32 to 28 °C during 60 h and then reestablished at 32 °C until hatching occurred. A significant mean hatching success rate of 89.6% was obtained for all the experiments. The main result from these preliminary findings was that the sex determination period to produce males was reduced from 15 (days 15-30) to eight days (days 19-27). Overall, the incubator provides precise control and simulates a natural thermal environment that may improve control of TSD in sea turtles.
KW - Lepidochelys olivacea
KW - Sex determination
KW - Turtle eggs incubator
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77649186875&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2010.01.005
DO - 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2010.01.005
M3 - Artículo
SN - 0306-4565
VL - 35
SP - 138
EP - 142
JO - Journal of Thermal Biology
JF - Journal of Thermal Biology
IS - 3
ER -