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The value of artificial farm ponds to Australian eastern long-necked turtles

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Abstract

Constructed wetlands may compensate to some degree for the impact of the loss of natural wetlands on aquatic biodiversity. However, information is lacking on the relative value of artificial wetlands and comparable natural wetlands for freshwater turtles. I contrasted the population structure, diet and body growth of Australian eastern long-necked turtles (Chelodina longicollis) in artificial and natural ponds in farmland settings. Turtle populations in the artificial ponds had a more even distribution of body size, and a much larger proportion of young individuals, than those in the natural ponds, suggesting that the artificial ponds were important recruitment sites. Diet differed little between the two types of ponds, being greatly dominated by aquatic insects in both cases. However, body growth of juvenile turtles was on average more rapid in the artificial ponds, possibly because they were generally permanent, unlike the natural ponds. These findings suggest that artificial farm ponds are valuable habitats for C. longicollis, which may foster population recruitment that counters the effects of introduced nest predators and road mortality.

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Data are available from the author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Early stages of the data collection were part of a Ph.D. programme at Monash University supervised by Dr P. S. Lake, Associate Professor A. K. Lee and Professor J. W. Warren. The author also thanks landowners for site access, the former Victorian Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and its predecessors for research permits, and anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript.

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The research was funded by the author.

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  1. Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Bruce C. Chessman

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  1. Bruce C. Chessman
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Correspondence to Bruce C. Chessman.

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Chessman, B.C. The value of artificial farm ponds to Australian eastern long-necked turtles. Hydrobiologia 849, 113–120 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04715-6

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