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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2022

Experimental reinforcement of Hermann’s tortoise populations impacted by fire

Résumé

Urbanization, habitat fragmentation and wildfires represent major threats to Mediterranean reptiles. Populations of the Hermann’s tortoise (Testudo hermanni), a long live species, pay a particularly heavy death toll. This is the case for the main continental populations in France: more than half of the National Natural Reserve of the Maures (RNNPM, 5.276 hectares) was consumed by flames in 2021 and huge number of tortoises died. Without practical actions, the persistence of tortoise populations is compromised. Reinforcement of decimated populations with captive individuals is a straightforward option. Several prerequisites must be considered however: 1) Are burnt areas suitable to host both surviving and translocated tortoises? 2) Will translocated tortoises settle in their new habitats and effectively contribute to population reinforcement? Long-term telemetric monitoring and field experiments provide encouraging responses. Various proxies (e.g. survival rate, behavior, body condition, eco-physiological traits) clearly suggest that translocation is a valuable technique to help fragile populations. Ongoing experiments further evaluate the usefulness of juveniles (3-8 years old) originating from breeding programs ("head started") to reinforce another population that was severely impacted by a fire in 2017 in a natural reserve 25 km south of RNNPM.
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Dates et versions

hal-04074587 , version 1 (21-04-2023)

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  • HAL Id : hal-04074587 , version 1

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Jean-Marie Ballouard, Xavier Bonnet, Olivia Delorme, Marie Raynaud, Sebastien Caron. Experimental reinforcement of Hermann’s tortoise populations impacted by fire. XXI European Congress of Herpetology, Sep 2022, Belgrade, Serbia. ⟨hal-04074587⟩
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