Fogo Island can stand out as a potential natural laboratory for studying the adaptation of sea turtles to climate change.
Biologist Herculano Dinis explains that the island’s black sand beaches, due to their composition, provide higher temperatures during the incubation of turtle eggs, compared to other islands in the archipelago, which can help the small population of turtles that lay their eggs. on the island to adapt to climate change.
In collaboration with Queen Mary University (England), a study was started this year to investigate whether this adaptation is happening, says the biologist.
“The island is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve and is important for the conservation of sea turtles from the perspective of climate change,” he says.