Home Range of the Endangered Beale's Eyed Turtle ( Sacalia bealei ) and the Implications for Conservation

TL;DR

This study tracks the endangered Beale's Eyed Turtle in China to understand its home range and seasonal movement patterns, highlighting the need for conservation strategies.

Contribution

The study provides the first empirical data on the home range of Beale's Eyed Turtle and reveals sex-specific seasonal movement differences.

Findings

Females have significantly larger home ranges during the breeding season compared to males.

No sex-based differences in home range size were observed during the non-breeding season.

Home range overlap between turtles was consistent across breeding and non-breeding periods.

Abstract

The Beale's Eyed Turtle (
Sacalia bealei
) is endemic to China and endangered primarily due to poaching and habitat loss. However, limited ecological information for this species hinders conservation actions. Using radiotelemetry, we determined the home range size of
S. bealei
in its natural habitat, collecting 769 valid activity locations from nine turtles (3 males, 6 females). The line home range size (LHR), home range area (HR, 95% minimum convex polygons), and core home range area (CHR, 50% fixed kernel density estimation) were about 185 m, 0.626 ha, and 0.089 ha, respectively. Bayesian and Cliff's delta analyses revealed no significant sex‐based differences in LHR, HR, or CHR overall or during the non‐breeding season. However, during the breeding season, females exhibited significantly larger HR and CHR than males (Cliff's delta = 1, 95% CI [0.14, 1]; Bayes factors 2.06–3.27), reflecting increased movement for breeding. Home range overlap ranged from 0.30 to 0.33 across pair types annually, with no significant differences between the breeding and non‐breeding periods (Mann–Whitney U tests, p > 0.05). By highlighting species' vulnerability to habitat fragmentation and anthropogenic pressure, our findings emphasize the urgent need for strategic conservation interventions.

This study examines the home range and spatial ecology of the endangered Beale's Eyed Turtle (
Sacalia bealei
) in China using radiotelemetry. We found that females had significantly larger home ranges during the breeding season compared to males, while no sex‐based differences were observed in the non‐breeding season. Our results underscore the species' vulnerability to habitat fragmentation and highlight the need for targeted conservation strategies to mitigate anthropogenic pressures.

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