Climate change is affecting turtles in multiple ways and at all life stages, from the loss of nesting beaches resulting from sea level rise and increased erosion, to feminization of turtle populations caused by elevated nest... [ view full abstract ]
Climate change is affecting turtles in multiple ways and at all life stages, from the loss of nesting beaches resulting from sea level rise and increased erosion, to feminization of turtle populations caused by elevated nest temperatures, changes in reproductive periodicity, shifts in latitudinal ranges, and decreased reproductive success.
Nesting season for green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in Terengganu state starts in March and ends in September annually. Nesting activities decrease rapidly during the monsoon seasons due to rough seas. Terengganu has distinct monsoon seasons, namely the post monsoon (April- Mei), pre-monsoon (September - November) and the Northeast monsoon (December - March) which dynamically shape the shoreline and beaches.
In 2016 and 2017, a study was conducted in the coast of Kemaman and Setiu which covers six main nesting beaches of Kerteh, Ma'Daerah, Chakar hutang, Paka (Kemaman) and Kuala Baharu Selatan as well as Telaga Papan (Setiu). The main aim was to determine the vulnerability towards exposure of monsoonal storms during the period. The study was conducted using beach profiling, shoreline tracing using GPS and Coastal Integrity Vulnerability Assessment Toolkit (CIVAT) which were done before and after Northeast monsoon. The Northeast monsoon severely impacts the coastline as the beach profile showed great changes of beach slopes. Monitoring the changes of the shoreline is needed to measure the potential loss of nesting areas for green turtle and thus the mitigation measures to prevent the erosion causes by other than climate change should be reduced to prevent the impact on the nesting areas.
