The temperature during incubation determines the sex of loggerhead sea turtles while they develop in their eggs. If the temperature is warm enough, all will be females. If the temperature is cooler, all will be males. If the temperature is just right, called the pivotal temperature, then there will be about half females and half males.
Many species of plants, including the sunflower pictured here, are capable of self-fertilization. If pollination does not occur with the help of pollinating insects, the stigma of the flower will wrap itself around the pollen of the same flower. Although self-fertilization forms seeds by meiosis, all of the resulting plants will be identical. In other words, self-fertilization decreases genetic diversity.
The sex of some crocodiles and turtles is dependent on the temperature during critical points in egg development. How is sex determined in mammalian species?
- genetics
- nutrition
- temperature
- genetics and temperature