Prospects for freshwater turtle population recovery are catalyzed by pan-Amazonian community-based management

• Published in: Biological conservation Vol. 233; pp. 51 - 60
• Main Authors: Norris, Darren, Peres, Carlos A., Michalski, Fernanda, Gibbs, James P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.05.2019
• Subjects: Adaptive management; Community based management; conservation areas; demography; fauna; females; indicator species; Lefkovitch matrix; Life history; Natural resource management; Podocnemis; Podocnemis unifilis; Population recovery; Protected area effectiveness; rivers; tropics; turtles; watersheds; wildlife; Natural resource management; Protected area effectiveness; Community based management; Life history; Adaptive management; Lefkovitch matrix; Podocnemis unifilis; Population recovery
• ISSN: 0006-3207; 1873-2917
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.02.022

Sustainable use as a mechanism for the conservation and recovery of exploited wildlife populations remains intensely debated, including for freshwater turtles, a diverse and imperiled group of aquatic reptiles that are an important food source for many residents of tropical regions. Here we evaluated the geographical extent of recovery options for a heavily exploited tropical freshwater turtle fauna across 8.86 M km2 of South American river catchments under scenarios of Business-as-Usual (BAU), Protection (Pr) and Community-Based-Management (CBM). For the widespread indicator species, Podocnemis unifilis, demographic analysis showed that populations subject to moderate levels of female harvest (≤10%) can recover over broad areas if concurrent headstarting of hatchlings is practiced more widely. With regional strengthening of the protected area network unlikely, CBM developed with harvest frameworks derived from demographic rates appropriate to tropical species could catalyze a rapid continental scale recovery of Amazonian freshwater turtles within a few decades. •Although 32.7% of pan-Amazon rivers are protected, 57.2% (124 K km) are both accessible to turtle harvesters and unprotected.•Severe (≥50%) and rapid (<50 year) population losses were projected across 60% of the pan-Amazonian range (5.3 M km2).•Protected areas alone are insufficient to ensure the future range-scale viability of populations.•If community-based management (CBM) is implemented we predict fourfold continental scale population increase within 50 years.•This and related turtles have potential for continental scale conservation gains if CBM can be supported over broad areas.