Samenvatting

Climate change and global warming have a big impact on many animals that live on earth. Ice caps are melting, making polar habitats disappear, but the temperature rise has impact on other continents and oceans as well. Reptiles, which are ectothermic, are strongly affected by warmer environments since higher temperatures increase for example metabolic activity, leading to higher stress levels and mortality. In addition, many reptiles have temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), which means that the sex of the offspring is determined by the surrounding temperature of the egg. Simply explained, there are two types, the first one being that at lower temperatures one sex develops and at higher temperatures the other sex develops. The other type gives rise to one sex when the temperatures are within certain temperature boundaries, and the other sex is developed when the temperature reaches out of those boundaries. Global warming will inevitably result in the development of one sex only for these reptiles. Sea turtles are a family within the reptile class that have TSD. Besides that, all seven sea turtle species are threatened under current circumstances, let alone in the future where the hotter climate has an increased impact on these species.