Occurrence patterns of alien freshwater turtles in a largeurban pond ‘Archipelago’ (Rome, Italy): Suggestinghypotheses on root causes

Maria Paola Di Santo; Leonardo Vignoli; Giuseppe M. CarpanetoCorrado Battisti

摘要

The patterns of the occurrence and distribution of alien freshwater turtle species in an urban pond archipelago (Rome,Italy) were analysed, with the aim of exploring the role of a set of factors (type of ponds, landscape context, size area,distance from the nearest road) with a generalized linear model approach. A total of 311 ponds subdivided in three types(fountains, small basins, lakes) embedded in different landscape contexts (public parks, private parks, urban areas) at differingdistances from the nearest road were sampled. Six non-native freshwater turtle species in 31 sites were recorded(9.97). Lakes exhibited the highest occurrence rates of alien freshwater turtles, compared to small basins and fountains.Freshwater turtle species in urbanized areas were only observed in parks (both public and private). In both the publicand private parks, the lakes exhibited the highest percentage of occupied sites, with fountains being the lowest. A directand significant relationship was observed between pond size and species richness. The distance from the nearest roaddid not appear to affect species richness. A first interpretation of the data from this study facilitated the postulation oftwo a posteriori hypotheses that should be tested, as follows: (i) the causal process of turtle release is random, and therate of extinction (and recapture) is higher in smaller ponds, thus producing the observed pattern; and (ii) the turtlerelease is not random, and people actively select the ponds they consider more suitable for their pet animals. In thisstudy, it appears the lakes were perceived by those who abandon their pets as the most ecologically suitable habitatsamong other pond types to accommodate the different species of turtles. Knowledge of people’s attitudes in regard toreleasing pet animals also might assist managers of public green spaces to develop strategies aimed to preserve local biodiversity,and to educate the public about the conservation issue represented by the alien species.

机译：分析了城市池塘群岛（意大利罗马）外来淡水龟物种的发生和分布模式，目的是用广义线性模型方法探索一组因素（池塘类型、景观环境、大小面积、与最近道路的距离）的作用。共抽取了311个池塘，分为三种类型（喷泉、小盆地、湖泊），嵌入不同的景观环境（公园、私人公园、市区），与最近的道路不同距离。31个地点共记录到6种非本地淡水龟（9.97%）。与小型盆地和喷泉相比，湖泊中外来淡水龟的出现率最高。城市化地区的淡水龟物种仅在公园（公共和私人）中观察到。在公共和私人公园中，湖泊的占用率最高，喷泉最低。池塘大小与物种丰富度之间存在直接而显著的关系。与最近道路的距离似乎并不影响物种丰富度。对本研究数据的初步解释促进了两个后验假设的假设，这些假设应该被检验如下：（i）海龟释放的因果过程是随机的，在较小的池塘中，灭绝（和重新捕获）的速率更高，从而产生了观察到的模式;（ii）海龟的放生不是随机的，人们会主动选择他们认为更适合宠物动物的池塘。在这项研究中，那些抛弃宠物的人似乎认为这些湖泊是其他池塘类型中生态最适宜的栖息地，以容纳不同种类的海龟。了解人们对释放宠物动物的态度也可能有助于公共绿地的管理者制定旨在保护当地生物多样性的战略，并教育公众了解外来物种所代表的保护问题。

Occurrence patterns of alien freshwater turtles in a largeurban pond ‘Archipelago’ (Rome, Italy): Suggestinghypotheses on root causes

摘要

著录项

相关主题

期刊订阅