Bidmon, H.-J. (2024): The turtle year 2024 and the outlook for 2025.
Das Schildkrötenjahr 2024 und der Ausblick auf 2025. Abstract in Deutsch ➚
DOI: None ➚
Gopherus polyphemus,
© Tracey D. Tuberville
From a German herpetological perspective, I think 2024 was marked by the awarding of the Federal Cross of Merit to Ingrid and Elmar Meier for the breeding and conservation of almost extinct Chinese water turtles and the co-establishment of the International Center for the Conservation of Chelonians; IZS at the Allwetterzoo Münster (Bidmon, 2024a). This brought the conservation efforts for turtles by private individuals and zoological institutions once again to the forefront of political awareness.
For me personally, the increasing delays in the publication of „Tortoises in Focus“, the scientific section of which I had helped to shape from the very beginning, meant a self-imposed farewell with the last issue (4/2023) in March 2024. After a fifth of a century, it is probably time for new, more horticulturally oriented players to get involved in shaping the journal. I sincerely wish them every success and continued long-term commitment!!!
In terms of abstract topics, the past year ended almost like the previous year from a turtle research perspective. In addition to the work on thermal tolerance and the feminization of sea turtle populations, there was again a focus on „invasive species“ and their distribution in freshwater (see CS Archive: Invasive Species Special I & II ➚). This topic will probably remain with us and we really have to ask ourselves what consequences this will have for Germany in the future (see Tietz et al., 2023). Especially since the connections with the consequences of climate change (see Bidmon, 2024b), which have already been described in more detail, have by no means weakened, because in 2024 we have again seen extensive flooding in Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, southern Germany, southwest France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and elsewhere (e.g. Pillar & Overbeck, 2024) and even in Germany we have the warmest (+1.6°C) year on record. The latter, like the progressive rise in temperature, is likely to promote rather than prevent the spread of such species. As in the previous year, the third focus also relates to the breeding and care of Chinese aquatic turtles and, in addition to some other species, mostly to Pelodiscus sinensis and the distribution of other species from this genus (e.g. Hou & Shi, 2024). Due to a lack of time, not all of these papers have yet appeared in the abstract archive, but as most of them are freely available online, anyone interested can start their own search, although most of them are more likely to be of interest to veterinarians. Such self-initiated searches are also becoming increasingly necessary, as the scientific literature on turtles has more than tripled since 2003, so that it is often difficult to filter out the more interesting ones from the approximately 1800 publications/year. New technical developments for recording activity in land and freshwater turtles have also been tested and described (Adderley-Heron & Chow-Fraser, 2024; Donovan et al., 2024; Williamson et al., 2024). Something that has long been used for most sea turtles. There was also some practical work in the field of medical care and hygiene (Liszka et al., 2024; Ready et al., 2024). Yes, and our knowledge of the sensory and cognitive abilities of turtles has also expanded (Lin et al., 2024; Jorgewich-Cohen et al., 2024), just as some studies have kept alive the hope of finding Rafetus swinhoei in the wild (Seimon et al., 2024; Ducotterd et al., 2023). The revival of species that have almost disappeared, such as Chelonoidis phantasticus and Rafetus swinhoei or the Nubian softshell turtle Cyclanorbis elegans, is likely to depend more on molecular medical preimplantation techniques to resurrect extinct species in the future as well (https://reviverestore.org ➚; https://www.izw-berlin.de/de/abteilung-fuer-reproduktionsmanagement.html ➚ https://www.izw-berlin.de/de/pressemitteilung/tierpark-berlin-baut-forschungsstation-fuer-internationales-artenschutzprogramm-biorescue.html ➚). There were also new findings regarding speciation or despeciation, i.e. the development of species without and with the involvement of Homo sapiens, for Galapagos tortoises as well as for Indotestudo elongata (Gaughran et al., 2024; Ihlow et al., 2024). Yes, and there have also been some really new positive discoveries and efforts such as the discovery of a new population of Graptemys oculifera, Glorioso et al, (2024), the establishment of a conservation breeding program for Kinosternon vogti with the support of Peter Praschag in Mexico and Austria (Blanck & Praschag, 2024; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9JEDMeLaGs ➚) as well as the successful long-term establishment of an Emys orbicularis population (Cordero-Rivera et al., 2024) and the recovery of a population of Podocnemis expansa (Lacava et al., 2024).
Indotestudo elongata,
© Abhijit Das
At this point, however, we should ask ourselves why and for whom do we still need this at all? Because we can hardly stop climate change and the loss of biodiversity, as this year's almost inconclusive COP 16 in Cani and COP 29 in Baku have shown us (see also Urban, 2024). Yes, and the democratic majority in Germany is also pursuing other goals, because in Germany alone we have spent around 79 billion on vacation bookings in 2024 and the industry is expecting the same amount for 2025, while in Baku at the World Climate Conference it was only possible to agree on an amount of 300 billion US dollars for the climate until 2035 (i.e. around 30 billion/year) to compensate those who are in need as a result. At this point, I would just like to remind you of my comment on Pereira et al, (2024). However, I also have to take the science to task, because we are inundated with horror scenarios about climate change, the loss of biodiversity and the negative actions of those who are supposedly to blame. This kind of thing dulls our senses and leaves us clueless! But what we need are scenarios that give room for hope and offer explanations for feasible future scenarios. To this end, instead of creating new barriers to trade, politicians in this country, the EU and internationally should be encouraged to structure science funding in such a way that it forces the individual disciplines to collaborate on projects. Perhaps coercion is the wrong word, but a lot can be achieved by funding such projects, because we don't just need to scold farmers for using too many herbicides and nitrates, we also need to be able to offer viable, honestly explained practical alternatives. It will also be necessary to sit down with the car companies and their trade union representatives to discuss the future of e-mobility and back it up with research data that shows alternatives without causing additional and long-term damage to the environment. Because if we suggest to the car industry that every family of 3-5 people could afford 2-3 or even four electric vehicles plus a motorhome, as can often be seen today, we will fail, as we will certainly need a lot of new mining fields to extract the necessary rare earths for their production, which will also be needed for increasing social media and generative AI use (Stokes et al., 2024 and the commentary). In this respect, the car industry could certainly face a similar situation in the long term as coal mining in Germany once did. We need concepts that should be developed jointly by the engineering sciences, geophysicists, landscape planners and economists to show politicians and people how much is still possible in ecological terms in terms of the survival of nature and society, so that the social sciences can also start to look at how humane societies should be restructured accordingly to make this possible. I'm sure some people will now say that we already on our way, because we are already taking care of green hydrogen in Africa and other sunnier nations around the world. We are certainly doing something, but I believe that the climate change that is already beginning will also require a different long-term foreign policy, because the people in these southern countries are already suffering from drought and famine, which we are only making worse by supplying arms and waging wars, because these people will very probably need more food in the future. The latter will be the future currency for a corresponding foreign policy, without which migration could not be transformed into peaceful cooperation. Yes, and this is precisely where Western democracies disagree, because they tend to move from election result to election result instead of thinking strategically in the long term. Ukraine is such an important breadbasket that the Western democracies seem to be gambling away by acting in disagreement, because even our leading economists, when asked about it, can't think of anything other than the sentence: „Putin won't live forever“. Dear readers, we need a policy supported by free science to overcome the crises and we must free it from the influence of agricultural and industrial lobbies as quickly as possible. The economy is certainly important and necessary for social cohesion, but on feasible economic terms that are essential for survival. Perhaps this would also include doing without additional Chinese light installations in zoos as well as doing without protest light rides with tractors, as both only unnecessarily exacerbate the negative ecological fingerprint and do little to protect the climate and preserve biodiversity (Elouafi, 2024; Frank, 2024; Larsen et al., 2024). Climate change, biodiversity loss and the associated environmental changes are „natural phenomena“, albeit accelerated by humans, and although nature has many varieties, it is never moral in our sense. In other words, if we do not change and adapt our actions, we will have to face many catastrophic (immoral) crises, which will put the younger generation among us and, at the latest, our descendants to the test. For 2025, we should hope that science will help us to introduce the right measures to at least preserve what we were able to recognize as a success and gain knowledge for 2024 in relation to our hobby, turtle conservation.
It is comforting to know that a number of manuscripts already submitted, as well as the research topics on chelonians presented at conferences, also promise interesting findings for 2025. With this in mind, we would like to wish you a happy new year and a healthy and interesting 2025.
Literatur
Adderley-Heron, K. & P. Chow-Fraser (2024): Unsupervised classification of Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) behavioural states from multi-sensor biologger data. – PLoS One 19(11): e0314291 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Bidmon, H.-J. (2024a): 20 Jahre IZS im Allwetterzoo Münster und das 3. Meiersymposium vom 3. – 5. Mai 2024 - Artikel-Archiv.
Bidmon, H.-J. (2024b): Commercially assisted migration – Invasive species and their future in a globalized world: A perspective – Artikel-Archiv.
Blanck, T. & P. Praschag (2024): Ein Projekt zur Erhaltung der Vallarta-Schlammschildkröte (Kinosternon vogti) – Ein Wettrennen ums Überleben der kleinsten Schildkröte der Welt. - Radiata 33(3): 4-9 oder bei Turtle Island Die Vallarta Schlammschildkröte | Mexiko ➚.
Cordero-Rivera, A., C. Ayres & G. Velo-Antón (2024): Successful reintroduction of the European pond turtle Emys orbicularis with a small number of founders: results from a 20-year, small-scale experiment. – Animal Biodiversity and Conservation 47(2): 171-181 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Donovan, E. B., S. Blake, S. L. Deem, P. D. Moldowan, A. Nieto-Claudín, F. Cabrera, C. Peñafiel & G. Bastille-Rousseau (2024): Using non-continuous accelerometry to identify cryptic nesting events of Galapagos giant tortoises. – nimal Biotelemetry 12(32): 2024 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Ducotterd, C., O. Le Duc, T. V. Pham, B. Leprince, C. Bordes, T. L. Nghiêm, P. H. Thu, A. T. Le, B. Q. Tran, V. Q. Luu & L. Luiselli (2022): Previously Unrecorded Invasive Species and the Unsatisfying Knowledge of Turtle Communities in Northern Vietnam. – Conservation 3(1): 1-13; DOI: 10.3390/conservation3010001 ➚.
Elouafi, I. (2024): Why biodiversity matters in agriculture and food systems. – Science 386(6718): eads8197; DOI: 10.1126/science.ads8197 ➚.
Frank, E. G. (2024): The economic impacts of ecosystem disruptions: Costs from substituting biological pest control. – Science 385(6713): eadg0344; DOI: 10.1126/science.adg0344 ➚.
Gaughran, S. J., R. Gray, A. Ochoa, M. Jones, N. Fusco, J. M. Miller, N. Poulakakis, K. de Queiroz, A. Caccone & E. L. Jensen (2024): Whole-genome sequencing confirms multiple species of Galapagos giant tortoises. – Evolution 2024: qpae164 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Glorioso, B. M., W. Selman, B. R. Kreiser & A. Ford (2024): Hiding in Plain Sight: Federally Protected Ringed Map Turtles (Graptemys oculifera) Found in a New River System. – Herpetological Conservation and Biology 19(1): 96-105 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Hou, X. & H. Shi (2024): Movement and Home Range of Amur Soft-Shell Turtle (Pelodiscus maackii) in the Ussuri River, Heilongjiang Province, China. – Animals 14(7): 1088 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Ihlow, F., C. Spitzweg, M. Flecks, N. A. Poyarkov, P. P. Mohapatra, V. Deepak & U. Fritz (2024): Unexpected lack of genetic and morphological divergence in a widespread tortoise- Phylogeography of Indotestudo elongata. – Salamandra 60(3):183–194 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Jorgewich-Cohen, G., M. Wheatley, L. P. Gaspar, P. Praschag, N. Scholte Lubberink, K. Ming, N. A Rodriguez & C. R. Ferrara (2024): Prehatch Calls and Coordinated Birth in Turtles. – Ecology and Evolution 14(10): e70410 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Lacava, R. V., D. C. D. Carvalho, J. C. B. Pezzuti, L. C. F. da Silva, P. S. Miorando & R. A. Fonseca (2024): Recovery of the Giant South American River Turtle in four decades of a network-based conservation program in the Brazilian Amazon. – Biodiversity and Conservation: Early Access oder Abstract-Archiv.
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Lin, F.-C., P.-J. L Shaner, M.-Y. Hsieh, M. J. Whiting & S.-M. Lin (2024): Trained quantity discrimination in invasive red-eared slider and a comparison with the native stripe-necked turtle. – Animal Cognition 27(1): 26 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Liszka, N. C., L. Adamovicz, K. A. Moorhead, M. J. Daleo, K. Grochowski &, M. C. Allender (2024): Evaluating the Efficacy of Disinfectant Methods against Emydomyces testavorans, a Fungus Associated with Shell Disease in Freshwater Aquatic Turtles. – Journal of Wildlife Diseases: Online ahead of print oder Abstract-Archiv.
Pereira, A. G., A. Antonelli, D. Silvestro & S. Faurby (2024): Two Major Extinction Events in the Evolutionary History of Turtles: One Caused by an Asteroid, the Other by Hominins. – The American Naturalist: Ahead of Print oder Abstract-Archiv.
Pillar, V. D. & G. E. Overbeck (2024): Learning from a climate disaster: The catastrophic floods in southern Brazil. – Science 385(6713): eadr8356; DOI: 10.1126/science.adr8356 ➚.
Ready, Z. C., L. Adamovicz, M. Daleo, A. Simmons & M. C. Allender (2024): Development and validation of a quantitative PCR assay for detection of Sulawesi tortoise adenovirus. – Journal of Virological Methods 330: 115033 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Seimon, T. A., N. V. Long, M. Le, E. E. M. McCormack, T. T. Nguyen, H. Ngo, N. T. Thang, T. Hoang, S. G. Platt, H. V. Ha, N. V. Trong, B. Horne, C. A. Barrett, D. McAloose & P. P. Calle (2024): Development and Application of a Portable Environmental DNA Test for the Detection of Rafetus swinhoei in Viet Nam. – Environmental DNA 6(5): e70011 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Stokes, H. J., J.-O. Laloë, N. Esteban & G. C. Hays (2024): Empirical evidence for the extent of spatial and temporal thermal variation on sea turtle nesting beaches. – Journal of Thermal Biology 125(6): 103965 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Tietz, B., J. Penner & M. Vamberger (2023): Chelonian challenge: three alien species from North America are moving their reproductive boundaries in Central Europe. – NeoBiota 82(1): 1–21 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Urban, M. C. (2024): Climate change extinctions. – Science 386(6726): 1123-1128 oder Abstract-Archiv.
Williamson, B. A. A. L. Lyons & L. M. Ferguson (2024): Conservation implications of habitat selection by nesting diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) investigated via an automated radio telemetry system. – Animal Biotelemetry 12(35) oder Abstract-Archiv.
Galerien
Gopherus polyphemus – Georgia-Gopherschildkröte
Indotestudo elongata – Gelbkopfschildkröte