Lizards changing sex due to climate change

The Asian Age , Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Correspondent : PTI
A climate-induced change of male dragon lizards into females occurring in the wild has been confirmed for the first time, resea-rchers said.

The researchers from the University of Canberra, who have long studied Australia’s bearded dragon lizards, have been able to show that a reptile’s sex determination process can switch rapidly from one determined by chromosomes to one determined by temperature. “We had previously demonstrated in the lab that when exposed to extreme temperatures, genetically male dragons turned into females,” said the leading author Dr Clare Holleley, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Canberra’s Institute for Applied Ecology.

“Now we have shown that these sex reversed individuals are fertile and that this is a natural occurring phenomenon,” said Holleley.

Using field data from controlled breeding experiments, the researchers conducted analyses which showed that some warmer lizards had male chromosomes but were actually female.

 
SOURCE : http://www.asianage.com/newsmakers/lizards-changing-sex-due-climate-change-086
 


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