Climate Change: Male Dragon Lizards Turn into Females with Higher Temperatures

First Posted: Jul 05, 2015 07:17 PM EDT

Climate change may be turning male lizards into females. Scientists have examined Australia's bearded dragon lizards and have found that temperature plays a key role in switching a lizard's sex rapidly from one to another.

"We had previously been able to demonstrate in the lab that when exposed to extreme temperatures, genetically male dragons turned into females," said Clare Holleley, lead author of the new study, in a news release. "Now we have shown that these sex reversed individuals are fertile and that this is a natural occurring phenomenon."

In this latest study, the researchers used field data from 131 adult lizards in addition to controlled breeding experiments. After conducting molecular analysis, they found that warmer lizards had male chromosomes, but were physically female.

"By breeding the sex reversed females with normal males, we could establish new breeding lines in which temperature alone determined sex," said Holleley. "In doing so, we discovered that these lizards could trigger a rapid transition from a genetically-dependent system to a temperature-dependent system. We also found that sex-reversed mothers-females who are genetic males-laid more eggs than normal mothers. So in a way, one could actually argue that dad lizards make better mums."

The mechanisms that determine sex have a huge impact on the evolution and persistence of all sexually reproducing species. In addition, it's crucial to understand how temperature might impact the gender of a species, especially as climate change continues.

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

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TagsClimate Change, Climate, Lizard