Marine reptiles

Few additional observations have been made of impacts from changes in climatic variables on marine reptiles since the first report card in 2009. However, there are a growing number of studies that have started to explore potential impacts of climate change on marine reptiles. Still, most evidence for climate change impacts on sea turtles comes from studies on loggerhead and green turtles in eastern Queensland. There is still low knowledge about vulnerability of crocodiles to climate change. However, there is more confidence that warmer water temperatures will influence behavior and possibly the distribution of the estuarine crocodile. There still is very limited knowledge of how the effects of climate change will impact sea snakes and there are no studies directly investigating this issue. What is clear, however, is that sea snakes at Ashmore Reef have undergone unprecedented local extinctions over the past ten to fifteen years and dedicated research is urgently needed into the basic biology, ecology and physiology of sea snakes to understand the causes of these declines and the extent to which the effects of climate change are driving the disappearance of sea snakes on some coral reefs.

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A Marine Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Report Card for Australia

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978-0-643-10927-8

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