Direct Losses to Populations
Disease, Predation, and Human Exploitation

Kristin Berry (U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resourses Division, Riverside, California), Lora Smith (University of Florida, Gainesville), Gerald Kuchling (University of Western Australia, Nedlands), Isabella Schumacher (University of Florida, Gainesville), William Boarman (U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, California), M. Farid Ahsan (University of Chittagong, Bangladesh), Romulus Whitaker (Centre for Herpetology/Madras Crocodile Bank, Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu, India), Bonnie Raphael and Michael Klemens (Wildlife Conservation Society, New York), and Eli Geffen (Tel Aviv University, Israel).

DISEASE:

Laboratory Health Profiles of Desert Tortoises in the Mojave Desert: A Model for Health Status Evaluation of Chelonian Populations (Plenary Lecture)

Mary M. Christopher, Ken A. Nagy, Ian Wallis, James K. Klaassen, and Kristin H. Berry  VIEW ABSTRACT

Baseline Health Parameters of Free-Ranging Pancake Tortoises, Malacochersus tornieri, in Tanzania (Summary Report)

Michael W. Klemens, Bonnie L. Raphael, William B. Karesh, Patricia D. Moehlman, and Reginald T. Mwaya

Field Techniques for Collection of Biological Samples in Turtles and Tortoises (Summary Report)

Bonnie L. Raphael and Elliott R. Jacobson

A Serologic Test to Monitor Desert Tortoises, Gopherus agassizii, for Exposure to a Pathogenic Mycoplasma (Summary Report)

Isabella M. Schumacher, Mary B. Brown, Elliott R. Jacobson, Bobby R. Collins, and Paul A. Klein

Diseases in Wild Populations of Turtles and Tortoises: The Chelonian Charisma vs. Coincidence Conundrum

Elliott R. Jacobson  VIEW ABSTRACT

Demographic Consequences of Disease in Two Desert Tortoise Populations in California, USA

Kristin H. Berry  VIEW ABSTRACT (INCLUDES LINK TO FULL TEXT)

PREDATION:

Survivorship of Hatchling Gopher Tortoises in North-Central Florida

Lora L. Smith   VIEW ABSTRACT

Predation on Turtles and Tortoises by a “Subsidized Predator” (Summary Report)

William I. Boarman

Avian Predation on Tortoises in Israel (Summary Report)

Eli Geffen and Heinrich Mendelssohn  VIEW SUMMARY REPORT

TURTLES AS A FOOD RESOURCE:

Turtle Rearing in Village Ponds

Romulus Whitaker  VIEW ABSTRACT (PHOTO)

Biology and Conservation of Aquatic Turtles in the Cinaruco-Capanaparo National Park, Venezuela

John B. Thorbjarnarson, Nayibe Pérez, and Tibisay Escalona  VIEW ABSTRACT

Patterns of Exploitation, Decline, and Extinction of Erymnochelys madagascariensis: Implications for Conservation

Gerald Kuchling  VIEW ABSTRACT (PHOTO)

WILDLIFE TRADE:

Exploitation and Trade of Geochelone chilensis

Tomás Waller  VIEW ABSTRACT (PHOTO)

CITES and the Tortoise and Turtle Trade

Wil Luiijf  VIEW ABSTRACT (PHOTOS)

Ecology and Exploitation of the Pancake Tortoise in Tanzania

Don Moll and Michael W. Klemens  VIEW ABSTRACT (PHOTO)

Contents Summary