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Broad-shelled Turtles in the Riverland
Rare and endangered, or cryptic and secure?
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The Murray is a highly managed river, with flows
controlled by catchments and diversions. The combined
impacts of water resource development, habitat
modification and introduced species are astonishingly
diverse, and include extinctions of some fish and
invertebrates and depression of populations of many
other species. Australia’s largest chelid turtle, the
broad-shelled turtle, is a high-level consumer thought
to be particularly sensitive to these changes. We will
use an innovative combination of non-destructive
technologies to investigate the conservation biology
of this species in the Lower Murray, where it is
regarded as rare and where its biology is virtually
unknown, to inform conservation management and
restoration initiatives. This project is funded under the
ARC Linkage-Projects Scheme, with contributions from the
South Australian Museum, the SA Department of
Environment and Heritage, the Nature Foundation of SA,
Earth Sanctuaries of Australia, the Riverland Animal and
Plant Control Board and the Victorian Department of
Sustainability and Environment.
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Professor Arthur Georges
Chelodina expansa is currently listed as 'Vulnerable' in Victoria and 'Rare' in South Australia. Conservation agencies are obliged legislatively to direct resources towards mitigation of the processes threatening the species. It is secretive and difficult to trap owing to its sedentary behavior and predatory mode, and it is suspected that its conservation status derives from its cryptic habits rather than critically low or declining abundances.
