Population Status, Threatening Factors And Conservation Strategy Of Platysternon Megacephalum In Guangdong, China

Guangdong Province has 14 species of freshwater turtles, but because of illegal trade, over-hunting and habitat destruction, all of freshwater turtle species are endangered, especially Platysternon megacephalum. To clarify the population status and threatening factors, we conducted interviews with local villagers, market surveys, and field surveys in 8 nature reserves and 30 cities of Guangdong Province during July,2007 and August,2009. The main results are as follows:i. Population Status:We investigated 29 streams,365 trapping sits, and 2031 trapping days.The valid investigation area is up to 16km2. During these surveys, we found only 6 individuals of Platysternon megacephalum. The frequency is 0.0105 individuals per trapping day and density is 0.125 indivduals per square kilometers. These 6 individuals spanned an elevational range of 210-637m, but these results differed from information gathered from interviews, which indicated an elevational range of 50-1340m. These results indicate that Platysternon megacephalum is highly endangered.ii. Habitat Status:Platysternon megacephalum live in stream habitats, and seem to prefer deep water (>lm), abundance of stone crevaces (≥18), high canopy cover (≥40%), sandy-stone substrate type, clay sandy soil, wider water (≥1m), and slower flow velocity (≤0.08m/s). We carried out our non-parametric tests by comparing sites where P. megacephalum were found to random sites. The results show that the stream habitat in Guangdong Province is suitable for Platysternon megacephalum. According to the field investigation, many illegal traps were found in the random plots, so we speculate that illegal poaching is the main cause of the low number of Platysternon megacephalum.iii. Threatening Factors:Over-hunting is the main threatening factor and it has caused the population of the Platysternon megacephalum to become endangered. Illegal hunting is widespread in Guangdong Province, especially in nature reserves. We found 110 illegal hunting trappings by interview investigation and 77 hunting traps by field investigation. Furthermore, we had 16 of our own traps stolen by locals. Huge trade of turtle species is the main cause of over-hunting in Guangdong Province. The results of trade and interview investigation show that the price of Playsternon megacephalum has soaring from the 1970s. More than 100 Playstearnon megacephalum were found during the market investigation and its price was up to 1000-1800RMB/kg. It seems that trade is the driving force of the illegal poaching.iv. Conservation Strategy:Trade and over-hunting are threating the wild populations of the Platysternon megacephalum. According to our reseach, we provide the following reccomendations:(1) Strengthen patrolling the stream habitat of nature reserves, destroying illegal traps (2) Strengthen the law enforcement of animal markets and establish long-term supervision (3) Strengthen the scientific research and resource detection, improve management system of nature reserves. (4) Strengthen public education to improve public awareness of wildlife protection.