It has been 15 years since I started this journal: 15 years of hard work and endless reviewing, editing, and formatting, and 15 years of gratifying involvement in the world of turtle conservation and biology. I have felt most fortunate to have successfully transformed my early focused interests in the taxonomy of chelid turtles into a position of broad leadership in the global turtle-conservation community. I have also been most honored to have been accepted into this chelonian community, despite my simultaneous and parallel nonturtle-focused career as a practicing orthopedic surgeon.

The publications I produced through the Chelonian Research Foundation,

ABSTRACT

Like many fragmented reptile populations, the ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata) is located in isolated, often small, populations in eastern Iowa. If populations are to remain viable, genetic diversity within these populations must be maintained, which is done most efficiently by migration among populations. Population viability was accessed using 3 microsatellite loci to determine population genetic structure in 2 locally dispersed subpopulations of ornate box turtles. Although these subpopulations were determined to be 1 large population with the normal range of heterozygosity, further examination revealed evidence of genetic divergence from a once larger population that is now geographically separated into fragments. We concluded that the central population studied was genetically healthy, and with proper management that continues to promote gene flow, the population should remain viable in the near future.

ABSTRACT

We studied reproductive ecology and egg survivorship of Podocnemis erythrocephala (Spix 1824) in 4 campina habitats on the Ayuanã River, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, Amazonas, Brazil. There were 2 nesting periods, the first in early October and the other in the beginning of December, separated by a period of flash floods. A total of 117 nests were recorded, with a nest density of 19.9 nests/ha, a mean clutch size of 8.7 eggs, and a mean egg volume of 14 cm³. Females chose to nest in the most open sites, with plant cover of up to 50%. Nest loss reached 100% for the season: 70% was from flash floods, 12% was from predation by the weasel Eira barbara (Mustelidae), 9% was by the lizard Ameiva ameiva (Teiidae), 5% by humans, 2% by Crocodilurus lacertinus (Teiidae), and 1% by Daptrius ater (Falconidae).

ABSTRACT

In most animal species, it is expected that females should exhibit a greater abdominal volume than males to hold the progeny, when compared with females, males should exhibit more developed attributes that enhance mobility. We tested this hypothesis in the Greek tortoise. In chelonians, a reduction of the openings in the shell improves protection against predation but also constrains the abdominal volume and limits the space available to move the limbs. As expected, our data show that the shell provides a larger abdominal volume relative to tortoise size in females than in males. In males, deep notches in the shell and a reduction of several plastron plates offer more freedom to the limbs and to the tail; these characteristics presumably enhance mating success. Further studies are necessary to assess the applicability of these results in other chelonians, notably freshwater and marine turtles.