Killing the Turtles and Crocs [Herpetology BP#1]

 

We are killing the turtles, but you already knew that. We are killing the turtles and the crocs!!

    Today I will be sharing with you some disheartening information I gathered from the following article: "Anthropogenic impacts on threatened species erode functional diversity in chelonians and crocodilians" by R. C. Rodríguez-Caro 1,2,3 , E. Graciá2,4, S. P. Blomberg5, H. Cayuela6,M. Grace1, C. P. Carmona 7, H. A. Pérez-Mendoza8, A. Giménez2,4 & R. Salguero-Gómez. 

    For starters, I had to look up what anthropocene meant because that was a bit new for me. Anthropocene can be defined as: "the current geological age, viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment". This article looked at the threats that Testudines and Crocodilia face due to the pressure we have put them under. Some of the study that was observed in the article was examining 259 of the existing 375 species of Turtles and Crocs we knowingly have left on our planet. The studying looks at there life histories and threats to them. The Anthropics threats posed been humans today include the destroying of habitats for these creatures (which is the number one contributor to the threats against these animals), climate change (which is affected in large part by pollution), unsustainable trade (the selling and trading of these animals is thesecond biggest contributor to their decline at this point in time), and  poaching. These all are posing major threats to the biodiversity of Testudines and Crocodilia and if the rate of these threats continue and/or worsen we will start to see species of these animals starts to be endangered and/or extinct.

    As we know we locally don't see many Testudines and Crocodilias; we only have one local species of crocs which is in the family Alligatoridae (Alligator Mississippiensis). But from this article  have gained that if threats persist toward these animals we will have even less diversity than we already do. I am more of a visual person so this is one of the graphics from the article down below. It shows for us the different threats posed to ward these animals in different parts of the world and how drastic each threat is. I found this graphic very helpful in understanding what thearticle was articulating. The main contributor being habitat disruption. All 6 main areas of the world that this graphic is pulling from all have a heavy influcence from habitat disruption shown and the second biggest contributor being global trade/selling of these animal species.

Overall, the article dis talk about the results in the study of seeing whether the anthropocene affects did put these animals in danger and the study was does need to be further expanded upon but I believe that there is a strong correlation. There is no doubt in my mind that these threats are killing off these animals and if they continue we won't have much more animal diversity left on our already dying planet.

APA formtatted citation: C., R., Graciá, E., Blomberg, S. P., Cayuela, H., Grace, M., Carmona, C. P., A., H., & Giménez, A. (2023). Anthropogenic impacts on threatened species erode functional diversity in chelonians and crocodilians. Nature Communications, 14(1), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37089-5

MLA formatted citation: C., R., et al. "Anthropogenic Impacts on Threatened Species Erode Functional Diversity in Chelonians and Crocodilians." Nature Communications, vol. 14, no. 1, 2023, pp. 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-37089-5. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.