Researchers investigating the impact of rising temperatures on sea turtles are travelling to some of the most remote beaches in Australia to work out which populations are at risk of being feminised into extinction.

In a phenomenon being seen worldwide, warming temperatures are resulting in an increasing number of turtle eggs hatching female.

The race is now on to work out which rookeries are most at risk in Australia, with a University of Western Australia (UWA) team focused on turtle breeding areas on the Kimberley coast.

"This is very fundamental research, and will give us insights fifty years ahead about whether sex ratios will change, where distributions might shift to, and what impact climate change is going to have," team leader Nicki Mitchell said.

"I don't think turtle populations are at risk of becoming extinct any time soon, because they live for a very long time, potentially 120 years. So the change is going to be slow.

"But the point is, climate change is very rapid compared to what turtles have experienced in the past, so our groups are trying to understand how rapidly they adapt."

The tipping point for sex determination in turtles is thought to be just over 29 degrees Celsius. If the beach sand is any warmer the incubating eggs will hatch female, however if it is any cooler, the hatchlings will be male.

The problem is that beaches are heating up across much of the globe, and that could have big implications for turtle rookeries.

Researcher Blair Bentley said whole populations could be at risk.

"If it keeps getting warmer there are going to be more females being produced, and over time the males will keep dying at a greater rate than they are being replenished, so it's what's called demographic collapse," he said.

"There might still be males in the population, but there'll be far more females, and reproductive success will go down significantly."

Turtle eggs carefully dug from Kimberley island sand

Mr Bentley has travelled up dirt roads and across remote bays to collect eggs for the thermal biology research program.

Turtles are being hatched in a UWA laboratory to help determine the temperature at which they switch from male to female. ( Supplied: Blair Bentley )

His most recent trip was to the Lacepede Islands north of Broome, where the local Nyul Nyul rangers took him by boat to the turtle-breeding beaches.

There, in the sweltering January heat, they carefully dug into the white sand to scoop out the small, perfectly round eggs.

"We cool the eggs down to about seven degrees Celsius, which suspends development while maintaining their viability, and then we put them on a plane and fly them back to Perth," Mr Bentley said.

"Then at the laboratory we incubate them at constant temperatures to find out the switch point, at which they switch from male to females.

"The tipping point for sea turtles is usually something in between 29 and 30 degrees, although there's been some research that shows it may be a bit higher in the north of Australia, so that's what we're trying to understand."

Turtles could 'find their own way to adapt'

The key will be how adaptable the turtles prove to be.

Dr Mitchell said shade cloth was being erected at some turtle breeding beaches overseas, to stop the hatchlings dying of heat exposure and to try to keep the gender mix at a healthy equilibrium.

But she hoped that would not be necessary in Australia.

"We'd expect the turtles will find their own way to adapt, either genetically, or by changing when and where they breed," Dr Mitchell said.

"But we just need to know how quickly that can occur, and if there are management implications for where industry wants to develop in the future, could that overlap with where turtles are holding on?"

For example, the research has already made a surprising discovery - with the sand at one remote East Kimberley beach bucking the trend by turning gradually cooler.

The coast at Cape Domett could end up becoming something of a natural sanctuary for breeding turtles trying to escape the heat.

The project is part of a $30 million research program being undertaken by Parks and Wildlife and the WA Marine Science Institute in the Kimberley.

The results of the thermal biology project are due to be released by the end of the year.