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.
Turtles and Tortoises Are in Trouble.
Craig Stanford,Craig Stanford,J. Iverson,A. Rhodin,P. V. Dijk,R. Mittermeier,G. Kuchling,K. Berry,A. Bertolero,K. Bjorndal,T. Blanck,K. Buhlmann,R. Burke,J. Congdon,Tomas Diagne,T. Edwards,C. C. Eisemberg,J. Ennen,Germán Forero-Medina,Matthew Frankel,U. Fritz,Natalia Gallego‐García,Natalia Gallego‐García,A. Georges,J. Gibbons,S. Gong,E. Goode,Haitao Shi,H. Hoang,M. Hofmeyr,B. Horne,R. Hudson,J. Juvik,Ross Kiester,P. Koval,M. Le,P. Lindeman,J. Lovich,L. Luiselli,Timothy E. M. McCormack,G. A. Meyer,Vivian P. Páez,Kalyar Platt,S. Platt,P. Pritchard,Hugh R. Quinn,W. M. Roosenburg,J. Seminoff,H. B. Shaffer,R. Spencer,J. V. Dyke,R. Vogt,A. Walde
Published 2020 in Current Biology
ABSTRACT
PUBLICATION RECORD
- Publication year
2020
- Venue
Current Biology
- Publication date
2020-06-01
- Fields of study
Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science
- Identifiers
- External record
- Source metadata
Semantic Scholar, PubMed
CITATION MAP
EXTRACTION MAP
CLAIMS
- No claims are published for this paper.
CONCEPTS
- No concepts are published for this paper.