Dear Attendees of the EMYS Symposium at Košice - Fauna Carpatica

CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT
1 Conservatoire du Patrimoine Naturel de la Savoie, B.P. 51, 73372 Le Bourget-du-Lac,
France
2 UMR CNRS Ecologie des Hydrosystèmes fluviaux, Université Claude Bernard Lyon1,
69622 Villeurbanne Cedex, France
3 Conservatoire Rhône-Alpes des Espaces Naturels, 2 rue des Vallières, 69390 Vourles,
France
4 Corresponding author for abstract [E-mail: cpns.nature@wanadoo.fr]
The reintroduction program of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis
orbicularis) in Lake Bourget was designed in 1995. The release site is a complex of
two ponds comprising 6 ha of reedbeds and 6 ha of open water surface, with a water
depth of 20 - 150 cm. The two ponds are connected by a 150 m long ditch, on the
edge of Lake Bourget (18 km long), close to a 3 km extension of reedbeds (with
Nuphar and Nymphea stands). Twenty seven adult pond turtles were captured in the
wild in central France (Brenne) and were released at the Lake Bourget ponds in
three groups between 2000 and 2002. All animals were radio-tracked daily during
the activity season and once a month during winter. Individual home-range sizes
and habits were recorded. The following indicators of the establishment of a
founder group were obtained:
- most animals stayed within the releasing pond all year long, in spite of summer
emptying for management purposes;
- several individuals (mostly females) explored a part of Lake Bourget (1 to 6
km away);
- these movements were shorter and less frequent in the second group;
- all dispersing individuals returned to the release point for overwintering;
- several females were observed in digging activity within the artificial nesting
site, while others shifted to other habitats around the "egg-laying site" during
the same period;
- of the 27 individuals released in 2000 and 2001, one subadult was found dead,
and radio-transmission stopped working for 6 individuals (two of them were
recaptured by trapping in 2001).
The results obtained so far - high survival rates, fidelity of turtles to certain areas,
habitat exploration, and apparent nesting behaviour - indicate that the prospects of
the reintroduction program of E. orbicularis in Lake Bourget are positive. However,
other important parameters, like reproductive output, nesting and hatching success
and juvenile survival) need to be estimated in order to ascertain the successful
establishment of the population.
ORAL PRESENTATION - 18 April, 13:00 - 13:20
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