Revue internationale d'écologie méditerranéenne International ...

FAITS DE CONSERVATION EN MÉDITERRANÉE / MEDITERRANEAN CONSERVATION NEWS ◆
Typical habitat for Testudo graeca in South Spain
The high proportion of people who collect tortoises from
wild populations in Southeastern Spain suggests that this disturbance
of T. g. graeca populations may have demographic consequences
which may include local extinction in areas around
villages. Furthermore, the release of captive tortoises into the
wild without any institutional control may also severely affect
established populations by disease transmission or by genetic
mixture (Seigel & Dodd, 2000).
Conservation strategies for T. g. graeca have focussed on the
control of trade in the species and on re-introduction programmes
of captive tortoises. In the first case, national and international
strategies designed to combat pet traffic have been essential in the
past and in Spain have almost ended the trade in tortoises. In the
second case, re-introductions seems irrelevant when compared
to threats such as habitat destruction (Giménez et al., 2001) and
continued chance collection. Besides, the effectiveness of these
techniques of manipulation are debatable, and need significant
economic and human resources (Kleiman et al., 1994, Seigel &
Dodd, 2000).
In contrast, the custom of keeping tortoises in captivity reveals
a social perception of the spur-thighed tortoise as a pet and the
lack of popular knowledge about its legal situation and the threatened
status of the species. We suggest that all of this implies a
need to develop environmental education programmes towards
a perception of the tortoise as a wild animal and to conserve and
to value the spur-thighed toroises as a typical element of semiarid
landscapes of southeast Spain.
For more information read: PÉREZ I.; GIMÉNEZ, A.; SÁNCHEZ-ZAPATA
J.A.; ANADÓN, J.D.; MARTÍNEZ, M. & ESTEVE, M.A., 2004. Non commercial
collecting of tortoises (Testudo graeca graeca): a cultural problem in
southeastern Spain. Biological Conservation, in press.
References
— Giménez, A.; Est eve, M.A.; Anadón, J.D.; Mar t ínez, J.;
Mar t ínez, M. & Pér ez I., 2001. Estudios básicos para una estrategia
ecologia mediterranea, tome 29, fascicule 2, p. 249-258
de conservación de la tortuga mora en la Región de Murcia. Consejería
de Agricultura, Agua y Medio Ambiente.
— Kl eiman, D.G.; Pr ice, M.R.S. & Beck, B.B., 1994. Criteria for
reintroductions. In Creative Conservation: Interactive management
of wild and captive animals (Onley, P.J.S.; Mace, G.M. & Feistner,
A.G.C. ed.). Chapman and Hall, London, UK.
— Lamber t , M.R.K. ,1979. Trade and the mediterranean tortoises.
Oryx 15, 81-82.
— López-Jur ado, L.F.; Tal aver a Tor r al ba, P.A.; Ibáñez
Gonzal ez, J.M.; MacIvor , J.A. & Gar cía Al car az, A., 1979. Las
tortugas terrestres Testudo graeca y Testudo hermanni en España.
Naturalia hispanica 17, 1-63.
— Seigel , R.A. & Dodd Jr , C.K., 2000. Manipulation of turtle
populations for conservation. Halfway technologies or viable
options? In Turtle conservation (Klemens, M.W. ed.). Washington
and London: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Ir ene Pér ez 1 , Andrés Giménez 2 ,
José Ant onio Sánchez-Zapat a 2 , José Daniel Anadón 2 ,
Mar cel o Mar t ínez 1 & Miguel Ángel Est eve 1
1. Dpto. Ecología e Hidrología. Facultad de Biología.
Universidad de Murcia. Campus de Espinardo.
30100 Espinardo (Murcia). Spain. ireperez@um.es
2. Área de Ecología. Dpto. Biología Aplicada.
Universidad Miguel Hernández. Campus de Orihuela.
03312 Orihuela (Alicante). Spain. agimenez@umh.es
Conservation of Cetaceans and Sea Turtles
of Andalusia and Murcia.
Life Nature Project LIFE02NAT/E/8610
In November of 2002, three research teams of the Universities
of Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid and the NGO ALNITAK with
the collaboration of the Spanish cetacean Society – SEC presented
the results of a three year project of the Spanish Environment
Ministry for the “Identification of Areas of Special interest for
the Conservation of Cetaceans in the Spanish Mediterranean”
(Mediterranean Proyect). The results of this project highlighted
the relevance of the Alboran sea and its adjacent Mediterranean
and Atlantic waters for the conservation of cetaceans and sea
turtles in Europe and in all Mediterranean biogeographic region.
Based on these results and over ten years of research in this region,
the Spanish Cetacean Society has developed a series of proposals
for the design of marine protected areas (mpa’s) within the frameworks
of the European Union’s Habitat Directive, the Barcelona
Convention and the Bonn Convention (ACCOBAMS). In order
to develop the last phase of the mpa design and the creation of
management schemes, the Spanish Cetacean Society (SEC) is at
present coordinating a LIFE Nature project in cooperation with
relevant authorities, fishermen and other stakeholders.
This LIFE project focuses on three species, the bottlenose
dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the harbour porpoise (Phocoena
phocoena)and the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) as prioritary
species for the European Union. However, the project has
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