The Ecology, Exploitation and Conservation of River TurtlesThe underlying theme of this book is that a widespread, taxonomically diverse group of animals, important both from ecological and human resource perspectives, remains poorly understood and in delcine, while receiving scant attention from the ecological and conservation community. This volume proposes a comprehensive overview of the world's river turtles' ecology, conservation, and management. It begins with a categorization of taxa which inhabit flowing water habitats followed by information on their evolutionary and physical diversity and biogeography. Within the framework of ecology, the authors discuss the composition of river turtle communities in different types of lotic habitats and regions, population dynamics, movements, reproductive characteristics and behavior, predators, and feeding relationships. In a conservation and management section, the authors identify and evaluate the nature and intensity of factors which threaten river turtle survival--almost all of which involve direct human exploitation or indirect effects of human induced habitat alteration and degradation. They then list and evaluate the various schemes which have been proposed or employed to halt declines and restore populations, and make recommendations for future management plans for specific species and regions. In closing, they state their viewpoint concerning future research directions and priorities, and an evaluation of future prospects for survival of the world's river turtle species. |
Contents
Introduction | 5 |
River Turtle Diversity Adaptations and Roles in the River Ecosystem | 9 |
Taxonomic Composition of the Worlds River Turtles | 13 |
Optimum Habitat | 23 |
Big Waters Big and not so Big Turtles | 30 |
Sexual Dimorphism | 38 |
Reproduction | 42 |
Morphology | 53 |
Favored River Turtle Species in the Modern Asian Food Trade | 165 |
Former Commercial Exploitation of River Turtles for Food in the United States | 169 |
Current United States National and Export Food Trade in Turtles | 177 |
Overall Effects of Exploitation on United States River Turtles | 180 |
Patterns of Commercial Exploitation in Mexico Central America the Caribbean and South America | 182 |
Africa and Australia | 193 |
Exploitation for Purposes Other than Food | 194 |
Revenge of the River Turtles? | 211 |
Communities and Habitats | 59 |
A Brief Review of the Study of Chelonian Communities | 61 |
A Global Overview of River Turtle Communities | 62 |
Community Composition Species Richness and Diversity | 97 |
Guild Composition of Chelonian Communities | 105 |
Correlates of Turtle Richness | 110 |
Islands and Peninsulas | 112 |
Resource Partitioning and Species Interactions | 116 |
Species Interactions | 121 |
Traditional Exploitation Methods Efficiency and Consequences for River Turtles | 123 |
Capturing Turtles in the Water by Diving | 124 |
Wading or Muddling | 125 |
Archery Harpooning and Spearing | 127 |
Netting and Trapping | 130 |
Hook and Line Techniques | 134 |
Other Aquatic Methods | 135 |
River Turtle Exploitation Past and Present | 139 |
Modern Subsistence Use of River Turtles | 141 |
Modern Commercial Exploitation of River Turtles for Food | 146 |
Indirect Factors Contributing to Extinction | 213 |
Habitat Alteration | 214 |
Terrestrial Alteration | 218 |
Wetlands | 222 |
River Development | 224 |
Introduced Species | 231 |
Stream and Riparian Managment | 234 |
Conservation Management and Rehabilitation | 236 |
InSitu On Site Techniques | 239 |
Genetic Considerations in River Turtle Conservation | 251 |
Antipredator Techniques and Other Methods to Improve Recruitment | 254 |
ExSitu Off Site Techniques | 263 |
Conservation Philosophy | 288 |
Conclusions | 299 |
Epilogue | 301 |
Literature Cited | 305 |
| 355 | |
Other editions - View all
The Ecology, Exploitation and Conservation of River Turtles Don Moll,Edward O. Moll Limited preview - 2004 |
The Ecology, Exploitation and Conservation of River Turtles Don Moll,Edward O. Moll Limited preview - 2004 |
Common terms and phrases
adult alligator snapping turtles Amazon River Amazon River turtle American river turtle animals aquatic areas Asian Australia Bangladesh basking Batagur baska batagurids Belize Bhupathy captive breeding carnivorous Central American river Chelodina chelonian Chitra clutches commercial common snapping turtles decline Dermatemys Dijk drainage ecology eggs Elseya emydid Emydura exploitation exported feeding females fish freshwater turtles generalist genetic giant South American Graptemys habitats harvesting hatchery hatchlings headstarting herbivorous Kachuga Kuchling Legler lentic lotic habitats Malaysia markets Mississippi Moll mud turtle musk turtle nesting beaches nesting sites northern omnivorous painted terrapin painted turtles Pelochelys Perak River pig-nosed turtles Podocnemis Polisar pond turtles predators Pritchard & Trebbau programs protected Pseudemys range red-eared sliders region river cooters river systems river terrapin roofed turtle sand sea turtles season shell side-necked smooth softshells softshell turtle South American river spiny softshells techniques Terengganu tortoises tropical turtle communities turtle conservation turtle populations turtle species Vogt Wildlife
Popular passages
Page 333 - SS Heppell, and TH Martin. 1994. Predicting the impact of turtle excluder devices on loggerhead sea turtle populations.