Steen David A, Robinson Orin J
Department of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 36849, U.S.A.
School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 36849, U.S.A.
Conserv Biol. 2017 Dec;31(6):1333-1339. doi: 10.1111/cobi.12926. Epub 2017 Jul 5.
Freshwater turtle populations are susceptible to declines following small increases in the mortality of adults, making it essential to identify and understand potential threats. Freshwater turtles ingest fish hooks associated with recreational angling, and this is likely a problem because hook ingestion is a source of additive mortality for sea turtles. We used a Bayesian-modeling framework, observed rates of hook ingestion by freshwater turtles, and mortality of sea turtles from hook ingestion to examine the probability that a freshwater turtle in a given population ingests a hook and subsequently dies from it. We used the results of these analyses and previously published life-history data to simulate the effects of hook ingestion on population growth for 3 species of freshwater turtle. In our simulation, the probability that an individual turtle ingests a hook and dies as a result was 1.2-11%. Our simulation results suggest that this rate of mortality from hook ingestion is sufficient to cause population declines. We believe we have identified fish-hook ingestion as a serious yet generally overlooked threat to the viability of freshwater turtle populations.
淡水龟种群在成年个体死亡率略有上升后就容易出现数量下降，因此识别和了解潜在威胁至关重要。淡水龟会吞食与休闲垂钓相关的鱼钩，这可能是个问题，因为吞食鱼钩是海龟额外死亡的一个原因。我们使用了贝叶斯建模框架、观察到的淡水龟吞食鱼钩的比率以及海龟因吞食鱼钩而导致的死亡率，来研究特定种群中的淡水龟吞食鱼钩并随后因此死亡的概率。我们利用这些分析结果以及之前发表的生活史数据，来模拟吞食鱼钩对三种淡水龟种群增长的影响。在我们的模拟中，一只海龟吞食鱼钩并因此死亡的概率为1.2% - 11%。我们的模拟结果表明，这种因吞食鱼钩导致的死亡率足以致使种群数量下降。我们认为我们已经确定吞食鱼钩是对淡水龟种群生存能力的一个严重但普遍被忽视的威胁。
