Kinship genomics approach to study mating systems in a depleted sea turtle rookery

Knowledge of demographic processes and life history strategies is necessary for the conservation management endangered sea turtle populations, but it difficult to ascertain because limited accessibility marine environments that turtles use during different stages their cycle. In such cases, molecular genetics genomic approaches are useful assess mating systems operational sex ratios (OSR), which ultimately influence demography. This pilot study used genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genetic markers exploring kinship in where major obstacles prevent a comprehensive assessment wild. We sampled 217 young hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) unknown parentage had originally been collected locally from seven nests were being temporarily kept captivity by Treasure Island Ltd as part its captive rearing project at Bounty Islands, Fiji, South Pacific. The raw dataset comprised 13,573 SNPs, we retained 639 SNPs relatedness analyses. Our findings pairs parents suggest 1:1 male:female OSR demonstrate SNP genotyping can be infer OSR. help evaluate magnitude impact warming temperatures consequent feminisation turtles. approach complement or substitute field observation breeding males nesting females when logistical budgetary constraints wild populations. allows inference Protection beaches with higher number should prioritised increase resilience. Conservation actions rookeries female-skewed address population declines long run.