Ma, H;
Papworth, SK;
Ge, T;
Wu, X;
Yu, C;
Zhang, H;
Xiao, F;
... Turvey, ST; + view all
(2023)
Ecological knowledge and value of traded species: Local awareness of native turtles in Hainan, China.
Animal Conservation
10.1111/acv.12867.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
Turvey_Animal Conservation - 2023 - Ma - Ecological knowledge and value of traded species Local awareness of native turtles in.pdf Download (874kB) | Preview |
Preview |
Text
Turvey_Knowledge of Traded Species_Suppl_Revised.pdf Download (730kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Wildlife trade is driving species extinctions globally, and the Asian Turtle Crisis is posing a threat in China as turtle species are collected from the wild and sold at high prices. Local ecological knowledge is increasingly used to determine the status of threatened taxa, but there is little understanding of wider relationships between indices of ecological knowledge and other conservation-relevant factors such as market values of traded species. To assess whether local people's awareness of potentially traded turtles might indicate direct interaction with trade in these species, we conducted 185 interviews in rural villages around Bawangling National Nature Reserve, Hainan, China. Interviewees were asked to free-list native turtles to determine species salience and then were shown photographs of the species to assess recognition and knowledge. We investigated relationships between species' salience, whether species were recognized, named and/or perceived to be traded by more people, and independently obtained market prices. Indices of species awareness varied among interviewees, but all species were reported to be traded by at least some people. There was no correlation between indices of awareness and market value, indicating that more valuable species were no more likely to be well known. However, the perception that turtles are traded irrespective of species is a concern for conservation because all species are then vulnerable to exploitation. Our results highlight that local communities should not be assumed to have accurate knowledge of traded species, with implications for the management of wildlife trade and conservation at the community level.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ecological knowledge and value of traded species: Local awareness of native turtles in Hainan, China |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/acv.12867 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12867 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2023 The Authors. Animal Conservation published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Zoological Society of London. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | local ecological knowledge, testudines, Cuora trifasciata, Platysternon megacephalum, human–wildlife interactions, wildlife trade |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10165202 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
