Temporal Variation in Demography of the Chocoan River Turtle, Rhinoclemmys nasuta (Geoemydidae), on Isla Palma, Malaga Bay, Pacific Coast of Valle del Cauca

Abstract

Few long-term demographic studies have been conducted in freshwater turtles of South America despite the need for this type of inquiry to investigate natural variation and strengthen conservation efforts for these species. In this study, we examined variation in demography of the Chocoan River Turtle (Rhinoclemmys nasuta) based on a population from an island locality in the Colombian Pacific region between 2005 and 2012. At this locality we captured turtles by hand in five streams with a total area of 0.4 ha. We calculated population size with the Jolly-Seber method and compared the population structure of four time periods (2005–06, 2007, 2011 and 2012). We calculated the probability of survival and capture probability for males, females and juveniles using the Cormack –Jolly-Seber model and we estimated the rate of population growth with the POPAN model. We found increases and decreases in population size, and a significant increase in the percentage of juveniles in 2011 and 2012. In all periods, females dominated the sex structure of the population. Temporal variation in population size may be due to natural changes in habitat or density-dependent effects. However, it may correspond with normal fluctuations in population parameters, therefore continuous monitoring that can be correlated with environmental and physical factors of the habitat could elucidate the causes of the variation.