Diversity, Distribution and Conservation Challenges of Turtles in Shuklaphanta National Park, Nepal

Abstract

Turtles roamed the Earth with dinosaurs making them one of the oldest members of reptiles. In Nepal, the fresh water turtle fauna, characteristics of the Indian sub-continent is greatly supported by Rivers and other wetlands of the Terai region. Terrestrial, semi aquatic and aquatic systems are the major habitat of turtles. Turtles of Nepal are classified into three families; Geoemydidae, Testudinidae and Trionychidae. The main aim of this study is to explore the diversity, distribution and conservation challenges of turtles in Shuklaphanta National Park, Kanchanpur District, Nepal. ShNP was divided into six blocks and Visual Encounter Survey was used to record the presence of turtles in these blocks. In every 100m distance, data regarding variables and turtle presence were recorded and multivariate analysis was done. A total of five species namely- Lissemys punctata, Melanochelys tricarinata, Nilssonia gangetica, Nilssonia hurum and Pangshura tecta belonging to two different families of order Testudines comprising of 21 individuals from 9 different locations were recorded from the study area. The Shannon diversity index (H‘) of turtle fauna in the study area was found to be 1.56. Turtle‘s presence was found to be associated with lakes, rivers. Habitat loss and presence of invasive species were the major challenge for the conservation of turtles. Size of wetlands of ShNP of year 2008 and 2018 were compared to know the changes. The wetlands were decreased by 2278 percentages

in past ten years. Threat analysis was done by questionnaire survey with 103 target people. More than 85% of people knew about the declining population of turtles. Respondent showed disagreed perception towards turtles. Ethnicity, gender and age had significant relationship with conservation perception.