Literaturdatenbank
Literaturdatenbank |
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Griffiths, O., André, A., & Meunier, A. , Tortoise breeding and ‘re-wilding’ on rodrigues island. Unpublished paper presented at Turtles on the Brink in Madagascar: Proceedings of Two Workshops on the Status, Conservation, and Biology of Malagasy Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles.
Added by: Admin (06 Jan 2014 18:24:31 UTC) |
| Resource type: Conference Paper DOI: 10.3854/crm.6 BibTeX citation key: Griffiths2013a View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Astrochelys radiata, Cylindraspis peltastes, Cylindraspis vosmaeri, Fortpflanzung - reproduction, Habitat - habitat, Madagaskar - Madagascar, Schildkröten - turtles + tortoises, Testudinidae Creators: André, Griffiths, Meunier Collection: Turtles on the Brink in Madagascar: Proceedings of Two Workshops on the Status, Conservation, and Biology of Malagasy Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles |
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| Abstract |
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Testudinidae Geochelone Rodrigues Island in the western Indian Ocean had the highest density of giant tortoises known in historic times. The two endemic tortoise species (Cylindraspis vosmaeri and C. peltastes) provided vital ecosystem services for the endemic flora. By 1795 they had been rendered extinct as a result of commercial exploitation. In 2006, a private protected area, the François Leguat Giant Tortoise and Cave Reserve, was established on Rodrigues with the aim of introducing two species of tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea from the Seychelles and Astrochelys radiata from Madagascar) as ecological analogues to replace the extinct species, as well as re-establishing the native endemic habitat. Since then over 600 tortoises have been released and 186,000 endemic and native trees have been re-planted. Such ecosystem reconstruction using analogues is known as ‘re-wilding’, and appears preliminarily to be working on Rodrigues. The program could potentially serve as a model for re-wilding of giant tortoises to Madagascar by using Aldabrachelys gigantea as an analogue for the extinct Aldabrachelys abrupta.
Added by: Admin |