Wildlife Diversity Program Quarterly Report for July–September 2025
Earlier Nesting Peak Observed in 2025 Sea Turtle Nesting Season by Matthew Godfrey and Sarah Finn
S ea turtle biology and behavior are influenced by tempera- ture. For example, sea turtles exhibit temperature-depen- dent sex determination and changes in sand temperature influence when hatchlings emerge from their nest cavity to the surface of the sand. In the past several years, researchers have documented temporal changes to the onset of nesting in different populations globally, with earlier nesting being asso- ciated with warmer coastal water temperatures. In North Carolina, nearly all sea turtle nests are laid between 01 May and 30 August, and this pattern has remained rela- tively constant since standardized monitoring of sea turtle nesting was initiated across all of North Carolina in the 1990s. However, in the 2025 nesting season, there was a shift in the peak of the nesting season, relative to the average seasonal pat- tern based on the previous 15 years, resulting in a seasonal peak occurring seven days earlier. That is, in 2025 the peak number of nests were laid during the last week of June, whereas normally the seasonal peak occurs during the first week of July. While the absolute shift in the peak of the nesting season is only a few days, it may have larger impacts on the overall success of sea turtle nests laid in North Carolina. This is because more nests laid earlier in the summer will likely result in a greater percentage of eggs finishing incubation before tropical storms and hurricanes arrive in late summer, which often reduce hatching success.
Seasonal pattern of sea turtle nests laid in 2025 vs. previous 15 seasons.
Loggerhead sea turtle nesting crawls seen on Wrightsville Beach in the first week of July 2021.
ROBERT KAESS
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