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1 December 2014 Home Range and Habitat Selection of the Endangered Euphrates Softshell Turtle Rafetus euphraticus in a Fragmented Habitat in Southwestern Iran
Hanyeh Ghaffari, Flora Ihlow, Michael V. Plummer, Mahmood Karami, Nematollah Khorasani, Barbod Safaei-Mahroo, Dennis Rödder
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Abstract

We present information on movement patterns and habitat selection of the endangered Euphrates softshell turtle Rafetus euphraticus (Daudin 1802) from Karkheh Regulating Dam Lake in southwestern Iran. Twelve adult turtles were trapped, fitted with radio-tracking transmitters, and relocated 21 to 51 times between May 2011 and July 2012. The mean linear range size was 2.54 ± 0.83 km, the mean river channel area was 55.35 ± 17.98 ha, the mean minimum convex polygon (MCP) size was 47.49 ± 23.36 ha, and the mean 95% kernel density estimator (KDE 95%) measured 21.75 ± 9.44 ha with a core area (KDE 50%) of 5.74 ± 2.87 ha. Range overlap was generally high; on average, individual MCPs overlapped with those of 7.5 other turtles, individual KDEs with those of 7.3 other turtles, and core areas with those of 5.5 other turtles. Selection of habitat types was not proportional to availability. Study animals preferred shallow-water edge habitats covered with Phragmites australis over all other habitat types.

© 2014 Chelonian Research Foundation
Hanyeh Ghaffari, Flora Ihlow, Michael V. Plummer, Mahmood Karami, Nematollah Khorasani, Barbod Safaei-Mahroo, and Dennis Rödder "Home Range and Habitat Selection of the Endangered Euphrates Softshell Turtle Rafetus euphraticus in a Fragmented Habitat in Southwestern Iran," Chelonian Conservation and Biology 13(2), 202-215, (1 December 2014). https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1071.1
Received: 20 July 2013; Accepted: 1 September 2013; Published: 1 December 2014
KEYWORDS
fixed kernel density estimator
habitat selection
Khuzestan Province
linear home range
minimum convex polygon
radio-tracking
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