Correlates of African Spurred Tortoise, Centrochelys sulcata, Occurrence in the West African Sahel

Fabio Petrozzi; Emmanuel M. Hema; Gabriel Hoinsoudé Ségniagbeto; Nioking Amadi; Godfrey C. Akani; Russell L. Burke; Laurent Chirio; Luca Luiselli

doi:10.2744/CCB-1302.1

14 June 2019 Correlates of African Spurred Tortoise, Centrochelys sulcata, Occurrence in the West African Sahel

Fabio Petrozzi, Emmanuel M. Hema, Gabriel Hoinsoudé Ségniagbeto, Nioking Amadi, Godfrey C. Akani, Russell L. Burke, Laurent Chirio, Luca Luiselli

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Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 18(1):19-23 (2019). https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1302.1

Abstract

To better understand the habitat preferences of the African spurred tortoise (Centrochelys sulcata), we tested possible associations between their distribution and land use, vegetation cover, the presence of roads, human settlements, and rainfall patterns, all of which affect the distributions of other tortoise species. African spurred tortoise distribution (based on 36 presence points compared with 250 random points) was strongly associated with 3 variables we analyzed: 1) Corine Land Cover (CLC) categories (especially sites with deciduous shrubs and high herbaceous cover relative to random bare areas), 2) distance from human settlements, and 3) distance from the nearest road.

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Fabio Petrozzi, Emmanuel M. Hema, Gabriel Hoinsoudé Ségniagbeto, Nioking Amadi, Godfrey C. Akani, Russell L. Burke, Laurent Chirio, and Luca Luiselli "Correlates of African Spurred Tortoise, Centrochelys sulcata, Occurrence in the West African Sahel," Chelonian Conservation and Biology 18(1), 19-23, (14 June 2019). https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1302.1

Received: 28 October 2018; Accepted: 4 March 2019; Published: 14 June 2019

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