Consequences of Habitat Fragmentation on Age Structure and Life History in a Tortoise Population

Biotropica

Volumn 35, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 550-555

  Aponte, César ^a,c   Barreto, Guillermo R ^a   Terborgh, John ^b  

^a UNIVERSIDAD SIMÓN BOLÍVAR   (Venezuela)

^b DUKE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c Edificio Imperial   (Venezuela)

Author keywords

Age structure; Body growth rate; Geochelone carbonaria; Habitat fragmentation; Life history traits; Top down vs. bottom up; Tortoise; Tropical dry forest; Venezuela

Indexed keywords

AGE STRUCTURE; DRY FOREST; GROWTH RATE; HABITAT FRAGMENTATION; LIFE HISTORY TRAIT; POPULATION DENSITY; REPTILE; TROPICAL FOREST;

SOUTH AMERICA; VENEZUELA;

AMPHIBIA; GEOCHELONE; GEOCHELONE CARBONARIA; REPTILIA; TESTUDINIDAE;

EID: 1642498191     PISSN: 00063606     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2003.tb00612.x     Document Type: Article

References (29)

1. ANDERSON, D. R., K. P. BURNHAM, B. C. LUBOW, L. THOMAS, P. S. CORN, P. A. MEDICA, AND R. W. MARLOW. 2001. Field trials of land transect methods applied to estimation of desert tortoises abundance. J. Wildl. Manage. 65: 583-597.
2. AUFFENBERG, W., AND J. B. IVERSON. 1979. Demography of terrestrial turtles. In M. Harless and H. Morlock (Eds.). Turtles: Perspectives and research, pp. 541-569. John Wiley and Sons, New York, New York.
3. BJORNDAL K., A. B. BOLTEN, AND M. Y. CHALOUPKA. 2000. Green turtle somatic growth model: Evidence for density dependence. Ecol. Appl. 10: 269-282.
4. BOURN, D., AND M. COE. 1978. The size, structure and distribution of the giant tortoise population of Aldabra. Philosophic Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 282: 139-175.
5. _, C. GIPSON, D. AUGERI, C. J. WILSON, J. CHURCH, AND S. HAY. 1999. The rise and fall of the Aldabran giant tortoise population. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 266: 1091-1100.
6. COE, M. J., D. BOURN, AND I. R. SWINGLAND. 1979. The biomass, production and carrying capacity of giant tortoises on Aldabra. Philosophic Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 286: 163-176.
7. DAVIES, K. F., C. R. MARGULES, AND J. F. LAURENCE. 2000. Which traits of species predict population declines in experimental forest fragments? Ecology 8: 1450-1461.
8. DODD C. K., JR., R. FRANZ, AND L. L. SMITH. 1994. Activity patterns and habitat use of box turtles (Terrapene carolina bauri) on a Florida island, with recommendations for management. Chel. Conserv. Biol. 1: 97-106.
9. FAABORG, J., M. BRITTINGHAM, T. DONOVAN, AND J. BLAKE. 1995. Habitat fragmentation in the temperate zone. In T. E. Martin and D. M. Finch (Eds.). Ecology and management of Neotropical migratory birds: A synthesis and review of critical issues, pp. 357-380. Oxford University Press, Oxford, England.
10. GEORGE, T. L. 1987. Greater land bird densities on island vs. mainland: Relation to nest predation level. Ecology 68: 1393-1400.
11. GERMANO, D. 1988. Age and growth histories of desert tortoises using scute annuli. Copeia 1988: 914-920.
12. _. 1994. Growth and age of maturity of North American tortoises in relation to regional climates. Can. J. Zool. 72: 918-931.
13. _. 1998. Scutes and age determination of desert tortoises revisited. Copeia 1998: 482-484.
14. HUBER, O. 1986. La vegetación de la cuenca del Río Caroní. Interciencia 11: 301-310.
15. KREBS, J. 1999. Ecological methodology. Benjamin-Cummings, Menlo Park, California.
16. LAURANCE, W. F., AND R. O. BIERREGAARD (Eds.). 1997. Tropical forest remnants: Ecology, management, and conservation of fragmented communities. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
17. LEIGH, E. G., JR., S. J. WRIGHT, E. A. HERRE, AND F. E. PUTZ. 1993. The decline of tree diversity on newly isolated tropical islands: A test of a null hypothesis and the implications. Evol. Ecol. 7: 76-102.
18. MOSKOVITS, D. 1988. Sexual dimorphism and population estimates of the two Amazonian tortoises (Geochelone carbonaria and G. denticulata) in northwestern Brazil. Herpetologica 44: 209-217.
19. PRITCHARD, P., AND P. TREBBAU. 1994. The turtles of Venezuela. Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles. Contrib. Herpetol. 2: 1-403.
20. RAO, M. 1999. Variation in leaf-cutter ant (Atta sp.) densities in forest isolates: The potential role of predation. J. Trop. Ecol. 16: 209-225.
21. RICKLEFS, R. E. 2000. Density dependence, evolutionary optimization, and the diversification of avian life histories. Condor 102: 9-22.
22. ROBINSON, S. K., F. R. THOMPSON III, T. M. DONOVAN, D. R. WHITEHEAD, AND J. FAABORG. 1995. Regional forest fragmentation and the nesting success of migratory birds. Science 267: 1987-1990.
23. SCHOENER, T., AND A. SCHOENER. 1978. Estimating and interpreting body-size growth in some Anolis lizards. Copeia 1978: 390-405.
24. SHAHABUDDIN, G., AND J. W. TERBORGH. 1999. Frugivorous butterflies in Venezuelan forest fragments: Abundance, diversity and the effects of isolation. J. Trop. Ecol. 15: 703-722.
25. SHINE, R., AND J. B. IVERSON. 1995. Patterns of survival, growth and maturation in turtles. Oikos 72: 343-348.
26. STEARNS, S. C., AND J. C. KOELLA. 1986. The evolution of phenotypic plasticity in life-history traits: Predictions of reaction norms for age and size at maturity. Evolution 40: 893-913.
27. TERBORGH, J., L. LOPEZ, P. NUN̄EZ, M. RAO, G. SHAHABUDDIN, G. ORIHUELA, M. RIVEROS, R. ASCANIO, G. ADLER, T. LAMBERT, AND L. BALBAS. 2001. Ecological meltdown in predator-free forest fragments. Science 294: 1923-1926.
28. _, _, J. TELLO, D. YU, AND A. R. BRUNI. 1997. Transitory states in relaxing ecosystems of land bridge islands. In W. Laurance and R. O. Bierregaard (Eds.). Tropical forest remnants: Ecology, management, and conservation of fragmented communities, pp. 256-274. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Illinois.
29. ZANETTE, L., P. DOYLE, AND S. M. TRÉMONT. 2000. Food shortage in small fragments: Evidence from an area-sensitive passerine. Ecology 81: 1654-1666.