Turtle Hotspots: An Analysis of the Occurrence of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles in Biodiversity Hotspots, High-Biodiversity Wilderness Areas, and Turtle Priority Areas

By R. Mittermeier, Peter Paul van Dijk, A. Rhodin, Stephen D. Nash. 2015

93 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract We analyzed the taxon richness and endemism of tortoises and freshwater turtles in the world’s premier biodiversity conservation priority areas and countries with greatest turtle richness. Turtle hotspots include biodiversity hotspots (BHS), high-biodiversity wilderness areas (HBWA), and additional turtle priority areas (TPA) previously identified. We present taxon richness and endemism values for the 16 turtle hotspots with highest richness and endemicity. These 16 turtle hotspots together contain 262 species (83% of total), of which 149 (47%) are endemic to these areas combined, and 134 species (43%) are endemic to just a single priority area. At the terminal taxon (subspecies) level, these 16 areas harbor 342 taxa (79%), of which 210 (48%) are endemic to these combined areas, and 195 (45%) are endemic to a single priority area. These 16 BHS, HBWA, and TPA account for less than 24 million square kilometers, or 16.0% of planet Earth’s land surface, with an estimated 10.4 million square kilometers of original habitat remaining, or 7.0% of the planet’s land surface. Twenty-one countries are recorded to harbor 15 or more species of non-marine turtles, with the percentage of endemic species ranging from 0% to 88%. Collectively, these 21 countries are inhabited by 275 (87%) species and 352 (81%) taxa, of which 115 (37%) species and 175 (40%) taxa are endemic to just a single country. Identification of these conservation priority areas and countries should assist conservation of turtles worldwide by focusing on areas where the greatest number of species and taxa can be secured and where the authorities and institutions that exist hope to accomplish these goals.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Nature and Landscape Conservation

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c1223695404995042206569d0bad7dcbc5cc8e68

How researchers see this paper

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In Ecology

1. Germán Forero-Medina
2. P. Pritchard
3. S. Platt
4. U. Fritz
5. R. Mittermeier
6. L. Luiselli
7. M. B. Thompson

In Global and Planetary Change

1. P. Pritchard
2. S. Platt
3. U. Fritz
4. R. Spencer
5. R. Mittermeier
6. A. Bertolero
7. I. Das

In Nature and Landscape Conservation

1. S. Platt
2. U. Fritz
3. R. Spencer
4. R. Mittermeier
5. I. Das
6. L. Luiselli
7. M. B. Thompson

Citations in the corpus

• Global Conservation Status of Turtles and Tortoises (Order Testudines) (2018, background): “11D. Additionally, Iverson (1992b), Buhlmann et al. (2009), Mittermeier et al. (2015), Ennen et al. (2017), Roll et al. (2017), and TTWG (2017) have also provided similar maps and analyses of turtle distribution patterns, global turtle hotspots, and priority areas of conservation concern.”