CnpLoNrANCoxsERvATIoN AND Btolocy InternationalJournal of Turtle and TortoiseResearch Wtlunre6, Number2 - Decenber2007 CONTENTS Articles Abundance.Population Structure, and Conservation of Kinostenlotlscorpioides albogularc on the CaribbeanIsland of SanAndfs. Colombia. GERMANFORERo-MED]NA. OLGA VrcroRlA CAsrANo-MoRA. AND OLGA MoNTENEGRo .............163 Conser.rationStralegies and Emer-sentDiseasesi The Case of Upper Respimtory Tract Diseasein the Gopher Tortoise. EARLD. Mccoy. HENRYR. MusHrNsKy.AND JONATHAN LTNDZEY ..........,...... ........................170 EtTect of Substrateon SelectedTemperuture in Juvenile Spiny Softshell Tufiles (Apcllotxaspinifbra). A ComprehensiveOveliew of the Population and ConservationStatus of Sea Tutdes in China. Srvo^-KrN-Furc CHer. I-Jlur,rxCusNc. TrNc ZHou. Hue-Jm WANG. HE-XhNG Gu. ero Xno-Jux SoNc........... 185 Effects of Human Settlementson Abundanceof Podocnemisunifilis and P expansaTurtles in NonheastemBolivia. Responseof Nesting Sea Trutles to Barrier lsland Dynamics. MARGARETM. LAMoNTAND RAyMoND R. Cerrsv ...-..-........-,...-.............206 A New Subspeciesof the SnakeneckTurlle Chelotlina mctordi fiom Timor-Leste (East Timor) (Testudines:Chelidaet. Ger<eloKuculr,rc, ANngrs G.J. RHoDrN. BONGGT R. In,qxnonoo.auo Coi-rNR. Tu.won ....................................213 Fifteen Yeals of Ilawksbill Sea Tunle \Erctmochelts imbicata) Nesting in Northem Brazil. M,uue A. MARCovALDT,Gusr,qvr G. Loprz. LucuNo S. SoAREs.Anl'IaNoo J.B. Se.xros, CLAUDTOBELLTNJ. AND PAULO C.R. B.q.ne.re .....,-.....223 A Genetic Assessmentof the Recovery Units for the Mojave Population of the DesertTortoise. Gopherus agassi:ii. ROBERTW. MuRpHy.KRrsrrN H. BERRY.Tev,on Eoweros.AND ANli M. MCLUCKIE ..........229 Notes and Field Reports Physical Charactelisticsof Giant Amazon Tufile (Podocttemisexpansa) Nests. Kellv BoNecs.JosE F. Lrwrcet. AL\'ARoP. De StLv.q-ntto Lrcr.qlo M. VERDADE.......................................... 252 Excavation is a NondeleteriousMethod for Obtaining Fecundiry and Morybometric Data from Small-SizedEggs of FreshwaterTurtles. Jesor Sausol, ELrNoqJ. HucHes.AND RoNALD J. BRooKS ....................255 Estimate of Trade Trafllc of Podooremi.e (Testudines. Pedocnemididae) from the Middle Purus River. Amazonas.BHZil. ALEXANDREKEMENES AND Juenrz C,qnlos BRrro PEZZUTT .......................259 'hxtle Deterioratior of Green Sea (Cheloniu nldas) Eggs After Known Embryo Mofiality. ANDREAD. PHrLLorrAND C. JoHxPenurxrln .,,.....262 Mycoflora and Aflatoxins in Soil. Eggshells.and Failed Eggs of Clrclonia rxldar at Ras Al-Jinz, Oman. Aaouneprn Er-snerrr,S.q.r N. Ar-Bqun, ARBULAZIZY. At-KtNor,TAHER BA-OMAR. Laparoscopl' of Nesting Hawksbill T\lrtles, Et?tnlochells inxbricata. at Milmau lsland. Nothem Great Barrier Reef. Australia. Knsrr- A. Doees.JerFRev D. MILLER.AND ANDRE M. LANDRyJn........................... ............2'70 (continued on next page) Cover: A new subspeciesof snake-necked chelid turtle (genus Chelodina) from eastern Timor-I-este (East Timor), is described in this issue by Kuchling. Rhodin. Ibarrondo, and Trainor (pp.213-222). (Photos b]' GErulo KucHr-ulc [top] and BoNc;c;rR. IsaRnoNDo[bottom]). b-- a '' ct'z'lt"'li"'iiii;:'iL:i:,,i:lli'f..3:,:l;;:]ll,ll'il rri5res , A ComprehensiveOverview of the Population and ConservationStatus of Sea Turtles in China Srrrox Ktx-Frrxc Csnx', I-Jruxn-CHENG], Trtc Zuor-t3,Hue-JrE Waxca, Hs-XraxG Gu3,rxn Xrno-Jt'r Soxc'- lAgric'Ltltttre.Fisherie'sttnc|Consen,tttioltDepctrttnettI,7/F,C'hett I kl clnrt @ n.fcd. got'.ltk ] : 2lnstitttte o.f'Mctr"ineBiologr, lVrttirtrtcrlTttitrurt Ocean lirtit,er,sirr'.Kceltotg, Tcritr,tut,Chintt Ib0 [email protected]]; ''Gctngkou Sea Turtle NtLriortcrlNrtrrrt' Resart'e, HLitlorrg,, Cltinct Itirtg:[email protected]]; ,o,',,,,.,ctnclFi'sherie.sEttl,irltutten|Mrlnitrlt.itt'QCentc I trut r ttllj I <',,tt (r I()tn.('( )ilt l ; ''Soutlt Chittct Irtstitrtta Ior EtrclcutgcrcrlArtirttuls, Guattg-ltou. Chinu [.riuojurt-.trut,[email protected]'ont] AssrRlcr. - Five speciesof seaturtles, including leatherback (Derntochelyscoriacea)' loggerhead (Caretta caretta), green (Chelonia ntydas), hawksbill (Eretmochelysintbricata), and olive ridlel' turtles (Lepidochelysolivaceo), were found in the waters east and south of mainland China and the associated islands. Decades of harvesting and habitat degradation have led to a drastic decline in the sea turtle population in the last century. Manr, foraging grounds and nesting sites have been degraded or have disappearedas a result of human activities.Nowadays, there are onll' a few nesting sitesand evenfewer foraging grounds for seaturtles in China. Fishery'bycatch is also believed to have been a major cause of sea turtle ntortality' in recent years. There is an urgent need for more efforts to be focused on the conservation of sea turtles in the region. However, limited information is available, which has impeded the formulation of effective conservation lneasures. The goal of this paper is to provide an overvieu' on the current population and conservation status of sea turtles, as well as recommendationsfor their effective management in China. Ksv Wonts. - Dermochelyidae; Cheloniidae; Caretta carettal Chelonia ntydas; Demtochelys coriaceal Eretmochelys imbricata; Lepidochelys olivacea; sea turtle; China; conservation; population status; nesting site; foraging ground. The People'sRepublic of Chir-rahas a total marine turtles in China was not mentioned.Mistakes. due to ateaof over'4"700.000 kml and a coastlineof 32.000krn. translation.have also been found in publishedmaterials The mainland is sunoundedbl, 4 seasin the western about sea turtles in China. For exarnple.lo_t-eerhead PacificOcean: the inlandBohai, tlre Yellow Sea.the East turtles (Carettcrc'orettu) are onlv known to nest in the China Sea.and tire lar-eest.South China Sea.Except for Xisha Archipelago(Paracel Islands) of Chir-ra(Ou1,ar-r_e et Bohai. which has an annual sea temperatureof 0o to al. 1992: Chen-e2000c). while Limpus and Lin-rpus 21"C. tl-reYellou'. EastChina, and SouthChina seasare (2003)havequoted tirat this speciesnests along the coast relativelywanrler, u,ith watertempelatures ralrginc from of rrrainlandChina: this was probat'llvdue to ntisinter'- 1-5' to ?8'C" and thet, support a large number of pretationof the sourceinfonnation. subtropicaland tropicalmarine organisms. including the Sea turtles are rnisratorv species.and successful onceabundant but now endangeredsea tuftles. Due to the conservationmeasures cannot be accornplishedwitl-rout difficulties to conduct sea turtle research. lirnited the existenceof a tight-lc-ritspirit of coopelarionarnons infonnation is availableon sea turtles in China. Most the concentedparties at the nesting sites. along the sea turtle researchhas been restrictedto particularaleas mieratoryroutes, and in the foragin_tgrounds. lnfonnation or nestiu-9sites but a comprehensiveover'\,iew on the exchange.technical supporl. and cooperativeresearch are existin-epopulation and conservationstatus of seaturlles all needed.between qovemfirentaeencies. internatior-ral in China is lacking. h addition. rlost of the relevant communities.and researchinstitutions, to enhancesea articleshave been publishedin Chinese.which makes turlleconservatiorr. It is obviousthat these deficiencies are accessand interpretationof relevantinfotmation difficult the malor obstaclesblocking the conseruationof seaturtles for the international communitv. For example. Shanker on botlr a regionaland global scale.This paperplovides an and Pilcher (2003) made a recent assessff)enton marine oven'iew of the existing population and conservatiou turtle conservation in South and Southeast Asia. statusof seaturlles in China.It is our"feruent hope that this However, due to an appareltt lack of applopriate will iriitiatemore holistic conservationeffolts to protect information in Enelish. the consen'ationstatus of sea seatuftles in China. 186 CuEloureNCoNsenva'uoN AND Biorocy, VolLune6, Nuntber2 - 2007 SEA TURTLE SPECIES AND THEIR coasralwarers of SouthChina. Zhu (2002) sug-eestedthat GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIB UTIONS log-eerheadturlles migrate frorn Xisha Archipela_eoand the South China Sea to the northern watel.s.presumably Five species of sea tuftles occur in china" ir-rcrucling seeking for fbod. by followin-e the walm asce'cling lo-e-eerheads. (,C -ereenturtle s lt eI o n i a n.n,clct,s ). lezrtherbacks cunents.within china. lo_e_eerheadturtles are only known (De nnocltelvs crtr'rtcerz). ( hawksbills Eretnutchelt'sinfuri- to nest in the Xisha Archipela,eoin the South china Sea cutu). and olive ridleys (Lepicltcltelt,solit'ctcer). They are (Ouyanget al. 1992;Chen_s 2000c). alt listed as critically Endangereclin the cl-rina Species Chelonict rttt,clus.- The green tur-tleis the most Red List (AnonymoLrs. 2004). It is estimated that sea common and abundantof seatufiles tound in china. Their turtles are most abundant in the South China Sea. distribution ranges fiom Liaonin_ein the north. past h-rvestigatiorrsconducted along the coast. fiorn Bohai in Taiwan. to rhe BeibLrGulf in the South China Sea. nofthem China ro Niinsha Archipela_eo(Spratly Islands) in Existin-qnesting sites are only locatedin a few subtropicai the Sourtl-rChina sea. have ir-rdicateclthat therr is an or tropicalbeaches in Guangdongand raiwan as well as increasins trencl in both the nLrmbersancl abunclance of severalsites in the Dongsha(pratiis Islanci).Xisha. ancl species. tron-rthe nor-thto the south. The water.sancl islancls Nansha archipela-eosin rhe Sourh china Sea. All