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Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal’s-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei
The Beal’s-eyed turtle (Sacalia bealei) is endemic to southeastern China and endangered due to poaching and habitat loss. Knowledge of S. bealei ecology is lacking and this study provides baseline information of its reproduction in a natural environment. We studied the reproductive ecology of S. bea...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
PeerJ Inc.
2018
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6018645/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29963334 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4997 |
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author | Lin, Liu Hu, Qingru Fong, Jonathan J. Yang, Jiangbo Chen, Zhongdong Zhou, Feiyu Wang, Jichao Xiao, Fanrong Shi, Haitao |
author_facet | Lin, Liu Hu, Qingru Fong, Jonathan J. Yang, Jiangbo Chen, Zhongdong Zhou, Feiyu Wang, Jichao Xiao, Fanrong Shi, Haitao |
author_sort | Lin, Liu |
collection | PubMed |
description | The Beal’s-eyed turtle (Sacalia bealei) is endemic to southeastern China and endangered due to poaching and habitat loss. Knowledge of S. bealei ecology is lacking and this study provides baseline information of its reproduction in a natural environment. We studied the reproductive ecology of S. bealei using X-ray, spool-and-line tracking, and direct observation. Six nesting females were successfully tracked and their nesting behaviors are documented in detail. Females produced a mean clutch size of 2.2 eggs (range 1–3). The hard-shelled eggs were ellipsoidal with a mean length of 45.50 mm, a mean width of 23.20 mm, and mean weight of 14.8 g. The relative clutch mass was 9.47%, while the relative egg mass was 4.60%. The mean incubation period was 94.7 days with a mean nest temperature of 25.08 °C. Hatchlings had a mean weight of 9.7 g, carapace length of 40.1 mm, carapace width of 33.3 mm, carapace height of 17.4 mm, plastron length of 31.6 mm, and plastron width of 25.4 mm. The results of this study provide important information to inform conservation plans and ex-situ breeding for this endangered species. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6018645 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-60186452018-06-29 Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal’s-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei Lin, Liu Hu, Qingru Fong, Jonathan J. Yang, Jiangbo Chen, Zhongdong Zhou, Feiyu Wang, Jichao Xiao, Fanrong Shi, Haitao PeerJ Animal Behavior The Beal’s-eyed turtle (Sacalia bealei) is endemic to southeastern China and endangered due to poaching and habitat loss. Knowledge of S. bealei ecology is lacking and this study provides baseline information of its reproduction in a natural environment. We studied the reproductive ecology of S. bealei using X-ray, spool-and-line tracking, and direct observation. Six nesting females were successfully tracked and their nesting behaviors are documented in detail. Females produced a mean clutch size of 2.2 eggs (range 1–3). The hard-shelled eggs were ellipsoidal with a mean length of 45.50 mm, a mean width of 23.20 mm, and mean weight of 14.8 g. The relative clutch mass was 9.47%, while the relative egg mass was 4.60%. The mean incubation period was 94.7 days with a mean nest temperature of 25.08 °C. Hatchlings had a mean weight of 9.7 g, carapace length of 40.1 mm, carapace width of 33.3 mm, carapace height of 17.4 mm, plastron length of 31.6 mm, and plastron width of 25.4 mm. The results of this study provide important information to inform conservation plans and ex-situ breeding for this endangered species. PeerJ Inc. 2018-06-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6018645/ /pubmed/29963334 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4997 Text en © 2018 Lin et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited. |
spellingShingle | Animal Behavior Lin, Liu Hu, Qingru Fong, Jonathan J. Yang, Jiangbo Chen, Zhongdong Zhou, Feiyu Wang, Jichao Xiao, Fanrong Shi, Haitao Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal’s-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei |
title | Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal’s-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei |
title_full | Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal’s-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei |
title_fullStr | Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal’s-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei |
title_full_unstemmed | Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal’s-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei |
title_short | Reproductive ecology of the endangered Beal’s-eyed turtle, Sacalia bealei |
title_sort | reproductive ecology of the endangered beal’s-eyed turtle, sacalia bealei |
topic | Animal Behavior |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6018645/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29963334 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.4997 |
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