Abstract

CUETO-MARES, Miriam Alejandra; CASTANEDA-GAYTAN, Gamaliel; BECERRA, Ernesto  and  RUBIO-RINCON, Alexandra. Spatial ecology and directionality of female Terrapene coahuila in the Cuatro Ciénegas Valley, Coahuila, Mexico. Rev. Mex. Biodiv. [online]. 2017, vol.88, n.4, pp.860-866. ISSN 2007-8706.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmb.2017.10.034.

An understanding of the spatial ecology of the Coahuilan box turtle is critical for the development of successful habitat conservation strategies for this imperiled species. Regrettably, the spatial ecology of this species is poorly understood. We monitored the daily movements of 7 females Coahuilan box turtles from August to October 2014 and 12 female turtles from April to June 2015, in the wetland Los Gatos, inside of Cuatro Ciénegas valley. We estimated home range size using both minimum convex polygon and 95% fixed Kernel. Core activity areas were estimated by 50% fixed Kernel. Directionality was estimated by Rao's test to evaluate mean directionality of movements (locations) in relationship with the center of activity. Minimum convex polygon home ranges were different for the 2 sampling periods, while 95% fixed Kernel showed no differences between the 2 sampling periods. The 50% fixed Kernel core activity areas also did not show differences between the sampling periods. Moreover, female Terrapene coahuila movements did not make random during either sampling period. Our home range analyses indicate that the species occupies larger areas than estimated by previous authors. Habitat conservation for this species must consider the connectivity of the ponds in the Los Gatos study area.

Keywords : Home range; Cuatro Ciénegas; Coahuilan box turtle.

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