Turtles and Tortoises Are in Trouble

Craig B Stanford; John B Iverson; Anders G J Rhodin; Peter Paul van Dijk; Russell A Mittermeier; Gerald Kuchling; Kristin H Berry; Alberto Bertolero; Karen A Bjorndal; Torsten E G Blanck; Kurt A Buhlmann; Russell L Burke; Justin D Congdon; Tomas Diagne; Taylor Edwards; Carla C Eisemberg; Josh R Ennen; Germán Forero-Medina; Matt Frankel; Uwe Fritz; Natalia Gallego-García; Arthur Georges; J Whitfield Gibbons; Shiping Gong; Eric V Goode; Haitao T Shi; Ha Hoang; Margaretha D Hofmeyr; Brian D Horne; Rick Hudson; James O Juvik; Ross A Kiester; Patricia Koval; Minh Le; Peter V Lindeman; Jeffrey E Lovich; Luca Luiselli; Timothy E M McCormack; George A Meyer; Vivian P Páez; Kalyar Platt; Steven G Platt; Peter C H Pritchard; Hugh R Quinn; Willem M Roosenburg; Jeffrey A Seminoff; H Bradley Shaffer; Ricky Spencer; James U Van Dyke; Richard C Vogt; Andrew D Walde

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.088

Turtles and Tortoises Are in Trouble

Curr Biol. 2020 Jun 22;30(12):R721-R735. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.088.

Authors

Craig B Stanford¹, John B Iverson², Anders G J Rhodin³, Peter Paul van Dijk⁴, Russell A Mittermeier⁵, Gerald Kuchling⁶, Kristin H Berry⁷, Alberto Bertolero⁸, Karen A Bjorndal⁹, Torsten E G Blanck¹⁰, Kurt A Buhlmann¹¹, Russell L Burke¹², Justin D Congdon¹¹, Tomas Diagne¹³, Taylor Edwards¹⁴, Carla C Eisemberg¹⁵, Josh R Ennen¹⁶, Germán Forero-Medina¹⁷, Matt Frankel¹⁸, Uwe Fritz¹⁹, Natalia Gallego-García²⁰, Arthur Georges²¹, J Whitfield Gibbons¹¹, Shiping Gong²², Eric V Goode²³, Haitao T Shi²⁴, Ha Hoang²⁵, Margaretha D Hofmeyr²⁶, Brian D Horne²⁷, Rick Hudson²⁸, James O Juvik²⁹, Ross A Kiester²³, Patricia Koval²⁸, Minh Le³⁰, Peter V Lindeman³¹, Jeffrey E Lovich³², Luca Luiselli³³, Timothy E M McCormack²⁵, George A Meyer³⁴, Vivian P Páez³⁵, Kalyar Platt³⁶, Steven G Platt²⁷, Peter C H Pritchard³⁷, Hugh R Quinn³⁸, Willem M Roosenburg³⁹, Jeffrey A Seminoff⁴⁰, H Bradley Shaffer⁴¹, Ricky Spencer⁴², James U Van Dyke⁴³, Richard C Vogt⁴⁴, Andrew D Walde²⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Herpetology Section, Los Angeles Natural History Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: stanford@usc.edu.
² Department of Biology, Earlham College, IN, USA.
³ Chelonian Research Foundation, Lunenburg, MA, USA; Turtle Conservancy, New York, NY, USA.
⁴ Turtle Conservancy, New York, NY, USA; Global Wildlife Conservation, Austin, TX, USA.
⁵ Global Wildlife Conservation, Austin, TX, USA.
⁶ University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁷ U.S. Geological Survey, Western Ecological Research Center, Riverside, CA, USA.
⁸ Associació Picampall de les Terres de l'Ebre, Amposta, Spain.
⁹ Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research and Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
¹⁰ Cuora Conservation Center, 8530 Deutschlandsberg, Austria.
¹¹ University of Georgia Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Aiken, SC, USA.
¹² Department of Biology, Hofstra University, New York, NY, USA.
¹³ African Chelonian Institute, Ngaparou/Mbour, Senegal.
¹⁴ Genetics Core, University of Arizona, Tucson, AR, USA.
¹⁵ Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia.
¹⁶ Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, Chattanooga, TN, USA.
¹⁷ Wildlife Conservation Society and Turtle Survival Alliance, Cali, Colombia.
¹⁸ The Surprise Spring Foundation, Prescott, AR, USA.
¹⁹ Museum of Zoology, Senckenberg Dresden, Germany.
²⁰ Wildlife Conservation Society and Turtle Survival Alliance, Cali, Colombia; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
²¹ Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australia.
²² Guangdong Institute of Applied Biological Resources, Guangzhou, China.
²³ Turtle Conservancy, New York, NY, USA.
²⁴ College of Life Science, Hainan Normal University, Haikou, China.
²⁵ Asian Turtle Program of Indo-Mynamar Conservation, Hanoi, Vietnam.
²⁶ Biodiversity and Conservation Biology Department, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.
²⁷ Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY, USA.
²⁸ Turtle Survival Alliance, Charleston, SC, USA.
²⁹ Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Hawaii-Hilo, Hilo, HI, USA.
³⁰ Department of Environmental Ecology, VNU University of Science, and Central Institute of Natural Resources and Environmental Studies, Hanoi, Vietnam; Department of Herpetology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.
³¹ Department of Biology and Health Services, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, PA, USA.
³² U.S. Geological Survey, Southwest Biological Science Center, Flagstaff, AR, USA.
³³ Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation, Rome, Italy; Department of Applied and Environmental Biology, Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
³⁴ Seattle, WA, USA.
³⁵ Grupo Herpetológico de Antioquia, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín, Colombia.
³⁶ Wildlife Conservation Society, Yangon, Myanmar.
³⁷ Chelonian Research Institute, Oviedo, FL, USA.
³⁸ Turtle Conservation Fund, Kirksville, MO, USA.
³⁹ Center for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA.
⁴⁰ NOAA-Southwest Fisheries Science Center, La Jolla, CA, USA.
⁴¹ Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and La Kretz Center for California Conservation Science, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁴² School of Science, Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia.
⁴³ School of Molecular Sciences, La Trobe University, Wodonga, VIC, Australia.
⁴⁴ Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia, Manaus, Brazil.

PMID: 32574638
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.04.088

Abstract

Turtles and tortoises (chelonians) have been integral components of global ecosystems for about 220 million years and have played important roles in human culture for at least 400,000 years. The chelonian shell is a remarkable evolutionary adaptation, facilitating success in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Today, more than half of the 360 living species and 482 total taxa (species and subspecies combined) are threatened with extinction. This places chelonians among the groups with the highest extinction risk of any sizeable vertebrate group. Turtle populations are declining rapidly due to habitat loss, consumption by humans for food and traditional medicines and collection for the international pet trade. Many taxa could become extinct in this century. Here, we examine survival threats to turtles and tortoises and discuss the interventions that will be needed to prevent widespread extinction in this group in coming decades.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Conservation of Natural Resources*
Endangered Species
Extinction, Biological
Population Dynamics
Turtles*