Telemetry in movement ecology of aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles in world freshwater ecoregions: a systematic review

Abstract

The improvement of techniques and analyses to understand the movement of freshwater turtles has helped managers in decision-making and the establishment of management strategies for these animals, which suffer numerous threats. We analyzed the available scientific literature on the use of telemetry in the study of the movement ecology of freshwater turtles, seeking to assess the most commonly used approaches. To this end, we carried out a systematic review of articles published until December 2022 using the PRISMA protocol. We found 104 articles published between 1980 and 2022, with a clear increase in the number of publications in later years. We found publications in 40 journals with 295 authors, 150 institutions and 261 keywords. Three countries had major contributions, and we found studies with 50 species, the most recurrent being Emydoidea blandingii and Glyptemys insculpta. The most commonly used technique to study turtle movement was radiotelemetry. The use of Minimum Convex Polygon – MCP and Kernel Density Estimation – KDE was present in 56% of the studies in the last 10 years, and the evaluation of the home range of the species was the most recurrent type of study. The studies covered 33 freshwater ecoregions, and although most studies were carried out in anthropized areas, covering only 16.2% of all endangered freshwater turtle species and 11.4% of all threatened by international trade, the conservation approach has been increasingly recurrent. Our results highlight trends and gaps in the study of the ecology of freshwater turtle movements and highlight the importance of telemetry as an essential tool for species conservation.