Is the future female for turtles? Climate change and wetland configuration predict sex ratios of a freshwater species.

Climate change and land-use change are leading drivers of biodiversity decline, affecting demographic parameters that are important for population persistence. For example, scientists have speculated for decades that climate change may skew adult sex ratios in taxa that express temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), but limited evidence exists that this phenomenon is occurring in natural settings. For species that are vulnerable to anthropogenic land-use practices, differential mortality among sexes may also skew sex ratios.

Forensic Application of Stable Isotopes to Distinguish between Wild and Captive Turtles.

Wildlife traffickers often claim that confiscated animals were captive-bred rather than wild-caught to launder wild animals and escape prosecution. We used stable isotopes (C and N) derived from the claw tips of wild wood turtles from Maine and captive wood turtles throughout the eastern U.S.