Ecologia e conservação de Peltocephalus dumerilianus (Testudines Podocnemididae) em Barcelos, Amazonas, Brasil

Abstract

The present thesis analyses and discusses aspects related to ecology and conservation of Peltocephalus dumerilianus (Testudines Podocnemididae), within a geographic area that includes a representative zone of the Muncipality of Barcelos, Amazonas, Brazil. The localities of biological and ecological information collected includes two tributaries of the medium Rio Negro: Itú and Cuimicurí rivers; Human use of the species was studied in the communities of São Louis, Baturité, Daracuá and Tomar. The nutritional components of the diet during a annual cycle were analyzed, from the digestive tract contents of individuals captured for consumption by the people inhabitanting the study area. This species was found to be an opportunistic omnivore. Data are also presented on the female reproductive cycle: annual ovarian cycle, egg laying in nature, induced ovoposition, and laboratory incubation reaffirming sex thermo-dependence in this species. Morphometric and mark and recapture data of the turtles captured during a two year continuous study was used to study the population dynamics in the research area. Habitat use was determined by a one year continuous telemetry study. Socioeconomic use was analyzed and discussed, the surveys show a cultural tendency associated with the consumption of turtles in the study area. All data combined indicate the population declination of turtles of greater historic preference; consequently the increasing hunting and commercialization of P. dumerilianus (bigheaded river turtle) is a dynamic process that demonstrates the related natural stock exhaustion taking place today.