Unexpected high forest turtle diversity in hill forests in northern Vietnam
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Unexpected high forest turtle diversity in hill forests in northern Vietnam Pham Van Thong1,2 · Olivier Le Duc1,2 · Benjamin Leprince1,2 · Cedric Bodres1,2 · Tomas Zuklin1,2,3 · Charlotte Ducotterd1,4 · Quang Lu Vinh5 · Lo Van Oanh5 · Nguyen Tam Anh5 · John E. Fa6,7 Luca Luiselli8,9,10
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Received: 9 September 2019 / Revised: 28 September 2020 / Accepted: 3 October 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Almost all Asian turtle species are considered threatened by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). We investigated the turtle fauna and their distribution in hilly forests in northern Vietnam (TamThanh commune, Quan Son district) during two consecutive periods (12th– 23th May, 12th–24th August 2019). These forests are of Subtropical Moist Forest type according to WWF, and dominated by evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. We used a combination of (1) field surveys; (2) hunter interviews; (3) examination of hunter quarry, and (4) monitoring of hunting activity. We performed field surveys in bamboo and hilly secondary forests (500–1350 m), applied 103 hunter interviews, and examined the same number of hunter bags. We found a total of 124 different individuals of as many as 9 turtle
Communicated by Karen E. Hodges. This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Forest and plantation biodiversity. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-02002061-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Charlotte Ducotterd [email protected]; [email protected] Pham Van Thong [email protected] Olivier Le Duc [email protected] Benjamin Leprince [email protected] Cedric Bodres [email protected] Tomas Zuklin [email protected] Quang Lu Vinh [email protected]
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Biodiversity and Conservation
species (representing 18% of the currently known total chelonian fauna in the Indo-Burma region). Two species were the most dominant, the Impressed tortoise (Manouria impressa), found mostly as shells in villages, and the Indochinese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons) sighted inside bamboo forests at different elevations. C. galbinifrons is one of the most critically endangered turtle species in the world. Given that there are still large expanses of unexplored bamboo forests and mixed bamboo—evergreen forest (over 5 million hectares) remaining throughout northern Vietnam, if our results are typical of other similar habitats, it is likely that C. galbinifrons may be more common than currently assessed. We suggest that field surveys should be conducted as soon as possible to confirm whether these turtles are as seriously threatened as presently considered by the IUCN. Keywords Chelonians · Hunting surveys · Indo-Burma region · Habitat · Cuora galbinifrons
Introduction As many as 83% (88 species) of all Asian turtle taxa (Geomydidae, Testudinidae, Trionychidae, Platysternididae) are considered threatened according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN), due to overhu
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