Global warming is turning frogs’ sex reversal into an extinction risk
Climate change is causing increased rates of sex reversal in amphibians, where heat stress forces genetic females to develop as males. This phenomenon threatens population stability and genetic diversity, potentially accelerating the extinction risk for already vulnerable species.
Why it matters
Amphibians are highly sensitive indicators of environmental health, and this research highlights a specific, non-obvious mechanism through which climate change drives extinction.
Some fish can switch sex more than once over a lifetime. In lizards, genetically male hatchlings can be born looking and functioning as females. In some frogs, genetically female individuals can develop into fertile males.
This phenomenon is called sex reversal . It is well documented in the animal kingdom, from invertebrates to amphibians to birds, where an individual can begin life with one sex and later switch to another.
But a warming planet is making these changes more frequent and potentially more consequential for animals. In a population skewed towards one sex, individuals may run out of mates to reproduce with, slowing population growth, reducing genetic diversity, and ultimately raising the risk of extinction.
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