Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea.
Department of Biological Sciences, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, South Korea.
PLoS One. 2023 Feb 16;18(2):e0281808. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281808. eCollection 2023.
Alien invasive species are posing conservation challenges worldwide. Pet trade, one of the many ways, is worsening the situation. Especially, pet turtles have been released into nature due to their longer life span and peoples' religious and traditional beliefs. In addition, unwanted and undesired pets are also released. While information on the successful local establishment and subsequent dispersal into new habitats is required to designate an invasive and ecosystem-disturbing species, alien freshwater turtle nests have always been hard to find and identify in nature. Because one should identify nests by the eggs, which do not always guide properly, as adults abandon the sites quickly. We thought the recent advancement in DNA technology may help improve the situation. We studied Pseudemys peninsularis, one of the most traded freshwater turtle pet species, which has already been reported from a wide range of wild areas in South Korea. Yet, it is not designated as ecosystem-disturbing species due to a lack of adequate information on their local reproduction and establishment. We conducted surveys and found two nests in Jeonpyeongje Neighborhood Park, Maewol-dong, Seo-gu, Gwangju. We developed the methodology for extracting DNA from the eggshells and successfully identified the nests by phylogenetic analysis and verified through egg characteristics and morphological features of artificially hatched juveniles. This was the first successful initiative to extract DNA from freshwater turtle eggshells. We believe it will help future researchers identify the alien invasive turtle nests and develop their control and management policies. In addition, our study also included comparative descriptions and schematic diagrams of the eggs of eight freshwater turtles, including a native and three ecosystem-disturbing species, from South Korea. We urged an immediate designation of P. peninsularis as an ecosystem-disturbing species considering its local establishment, distribution range, and potential negative impact on native ecosystems.
外来入侵物种正在给全球的生物多样性保护带来挑战。宠物贸易是造成这一问题的众多原因之一，尤其是由于海龟寿命较长以及人们的宗教和传统信仰，导致很多宠物龟被放归自然。此外，还有一些被遗弃的宠物龟也被放归野外。虽然需要有关外来入侵物种在当地成功建立种群并随后扩散到新栖息地的信息，才能将其确定为具有入侵性和破坏生态系统的物种，但在自然界中，外来淡水龟的巢穴一直很难发现和识别。因为人们只能通过卵来识别巢穴，但这并不总是准确的，因为成年龟会很快离开巢穴。我们认为，DNA 技术的最新进展可能有助于改善这种情况。我们研究了最受欢迎的宠物龟物种之一——黄缘闭壳龟，该物种已在韩国广泛的野外地区被报道，但由于缺乏有关其在当地繁殖和建立种群的充足信息，该物种尚未被确定为具有生态破坏作用的物种。我们进行了调查，在光州市西区猫卧洞，绵坪里的贞平街公园发现了两个巢穴。我们开发了从蛋壳中提取 DNA 的方法，并通过系统发育分析成功识别了这些巢穴，并通过卵的特征和人工孵化幼龟的形态特征进行了验证。这是首次从淡水龟蛋壳中提取 DNA 的成功尝试。我们相信这将有助于未来的研究人员识别外来入侵龟的巢穴，并制定其控制和管理政策。此外，我们的研究还包括了韩国八种淡水龟（包括一种本地物种和三种具有生态破坏作用的物种）的卵的比较描述和示意图。鉴于黄缘闭壳龟在当地的建立、分布范围及其对本地生态系统的潜在负面影响，我们强烈呼吁立即将其指定为具有生态破坏作用的物种。
