Following disturbances which include commercial harvest, alligator turtles are becoming vulnerable to population decline because of life history behaviors. Alligator snapping turtles do not mind about parental care. Young turtles feed themselves from the time of birth. This species gain sexual maturity at the age of 11 to 13 years and can survive from 30 to 75 years in confinement. Alligator turtle’s diet involves small plants and animals. We conducted a literature survey and examined the ecological effect of commercial harvesting of alligator snapping turtles. Our survey revealed seven alligator snapping turtle experiments globally. Most of this literature focused on the implication of overhunting of alligators to the ecosystem and the population. Our results stressed on the extinction of these species and the measures applied to control and repopulate the snapping turtles.
Introduction
The alligator snapping turtle is regarded as the biggest freshwater turtle in the united state of America. The species has an average wide allocation in the numerous Gulf drainages and the greater Mississippi drainage (Spangler, 2017). In spite of this extensive distribution, however, the alligator snapper is inadequately ecologically known. The organism is secretive and spends most of its time in water making it rare to be seen by the public. Alligator snapping turtles are nearly omnivorous and consume a wide range of animal and plant products. The alligator is a lonely species that mate at the beginning of spring and nest about two months afterward. Following perturbations which includes profitable harvest, turtles are vulnerable to population reduction due to life history characteristics such as low recruitment rates, slow growth rates, long generation times as well as delayed maturity (Trauth et al 2016). The purpose of this literature is to identify the influences of commercial harvesting on the alligator snapping turtle. Currently, there is little available information concerning the implications of profitable harvesting of Macrochelys temminckii ( alligator snapping turtle) and little information about the species’ biological aspects is accessible in the existing studies thus the significance of the paper.
Life History of Alligator Snapping Turtle
The snapping turtle is distinguished by a heavy head, and a long thick shell with three dorsal ridges of large-scale, furnishing it a fundamental look suggestive of some of the plated dinosaur. Breeding maturity is reached around 8 kg when the length is about 33 cm, but they continue to grow all through life. Mature alligator snapping turtles normally range in exterior length from 40 to 80 cm and weigh from 8.5 to 80 kg where males are typically bigger than females (Dreslik, Carr, Ligon " Kessler, 2017). Females and males can be distinguished by the position of the cloaca from the exterior and the breadth of the tail’s bottom. Maturity is gained about 12 years of age, but mating takes place yearly at the beginning of spring. The female makes a nest and lays a clutch of 15 to 50 eggs nearly two months later. The sex of the juvenile depends on the temperature at which the eggs were hatched. Although their lifespan is unknown, alligator snapping turtles are thought to be capable of living to 200 years of age, but 90 to 130 are more likely.
In confinement, they typically exist between 20 and 70 years (Johnston et al, 2017). Alligator turtles are opportunistic feeders that are virtually carnivorous. They depend on both dead organisms and live food caught by them through hunting. In general, these species can eat almost anything they can catch. Their normal diet consists mainly of fish carcasses, carrion, amphibians, and mollusks. They are also known to eat worms, snakes, water birds, clay fish and other turtles. Alligator turtles often hunt at night, but they may also hunt during the daytime. In captivity, they may eat virtually any type of meat provided including chicken, pork, and beef. Sometimes they resist eating if exposed to advanced temperatures. The snapping turtle is found mainly in southeastern United States water masses. They are located from east to west Texas, north to southern Kansas, Florida Panhandle, western Illinois, southern Indiana and western Kentucky (Folt, Jensen, Teare " Rostal, 2016). These turtles design their homes in lakes and rivers, and fundamentally aquatic but need to surface often to breathe.
Although the turtles are not endangered species, they are however facing considerable threats to their population. Habitat degradation, fragmentation, and destruction affect their productivity and lead to their decrease in numbers. According to Dreslik, Carr, Ligon " Kessler, (2017), overhunting of these species is at the forefront of declining numbers. Investigators found out that some fishermen target these organisms for their flesh while others object to eliminate the species to reduce competition for game fish. Although, the snapping turtles are not nearly to becoming an endangered species currently if individuals intensify their overhunting activities as well as destroying their habitats the alligator turtles would massively become endangered. The snapping turtles have strong jaws and are capable of biting human fingers, but people continue hunting them for food or even as pets. Kessler, Phillips, Ballard " Dreslik (2017), suggested that if effective measures to remedy the overhunting processes are not applied the alligator’s snapping turtles are in danger of extinction.
Harvesting Of Alligator Snapping Turtle
Commercial harvest as an example of perturbation makes the alligator vulnerable to population decrease. The decline in numbers is attributed to various factors such as delayed maturity, sluggish growth rate, large generation periods and low recruitment rates. Before acquiring statewide security in the year 1993, these species of turtles were commercially harvested in Arkansas for food and pet purposes (King, Hepler, Smith " Jensen, 2016). Later the United States passed a law that could protect alligator snapping turtles from overharvesting. Harvesting of the snapping turtles population led to various implications. These implications included the shifts in size distributions, low population sizes as well as changes in adult-offspring ratios. Anthony, Riedle, East, Fillmore " Ligon (2015), found that recurrently removing adult turtles from the rest of the population leads to a biased adult sex ratio which favors the smaller sex and aggravates a twisted total size distribution.
Impacts and Solutions
According to Trauth et al (2016), the survivorship late of alligator snapping turtle are highly affected by the historical commercial harvest which led to low reproductive success, slow growth rate and long generation periods. The authors stated that these implications are long-lasting and are still present to date. This study found that effective strategic plans and policies applied to conservation of the alligator turtles can highly secure the population from extinction. The snapping turtles consume a big deal of plants and animal matters from the ecosystem thus keeping the population of some plants and animals in check. Eradicating snapping turtles from ecosystem leads to biodiversity imbalances such that small animals and plants used as food by these turtles increase dramatically this may lead to the collapse of the same ecosystem. Raising the awareness to communities surrounding the ecosystems where these organisms are found aids in the conservation.
Reintroduction is a significant management tool used for organisms that experience population decrease. The management tool objects to repopulate areas where species have declined or used to supplement depleted population with minimum numbers to recover. Reintroducing captive- raised turtles into the ecosystem enable species to grow and increase in population after the release (King, Hepler, Smith " Jensen, 2016). Mostly, the released turtles show greater body conditions after reintroduction into the biodiversity than those left in captives.
Conclusion
Commercial harvesting of alligator snapping turtles has multiple factors on the ecosystem and the species population. Various biological aspects of these organisms inhibit them from productivity once they are overhunted for food. Profitable harvesting of turtles makes them susceptible to population decrease and regeneration. Overharvesting of snapping turtles raises concerns that these species may face dangers of extinction. Studies suggest that reintroduction of captive nurtured turtles into biodiversity enhances their productivity and aids in repopulation.
Acknowledgment
We are grateful to all people who contributed their time to assist in this study. Also, we gladly thank all the stakeholders who invested their quality time in guiding us in the study survey. We thank all the investigators who offered insights into their experiences with the commercial harvest of alligator snapping turtles studies. This literature benefitted from comments of anonymous readers. The study was supported by Spangler, (2017) from the long-term studies in conservation biology programme of global science foundation. The study portrays strong implications of the profitable harvest of alligator snapping turtles on both the population and ecosystem.
Reference
Anthony, T., Riedle, J. D., East, M. B., Fillmore, B., " Ligon, D. B. (2015). Monitoring of a reintroduced population of juvenile alligator snapping turtles. Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 14(1), 43-48.
Dreslik, M. J., Carr, J. L., Ligon, D. B., " Kessler, E. J. (2017). Recovery of the alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) in the Mississippi River Valley drainages of southern Illinois, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Illinois Natural History Survey.
Folt, B., Jensen, J. B., Teare, A., " Rostal, D. (2016). Establishing reference demography for conservation: a case study of Macrochelys temminckii in Spring Creek, Georgia. Herpetological Monographs, 30(1), 21-33.
Johnston, G. R., Thomas, T. M., Suarez, E., Lau, A., " Mitchell, J. C. (2015). Population Structure and Body Size of the Suwannee Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys suwanniensis) in Northern Florida. Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 14(1), 73-81.
Kessler, E. J., Phillips, C. A., Ballard, S. R., " Dreslik, M. J. (2017). The First Record of an Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) in Illinois in 30 Years. Southeastern Naturalist, 16(3), N29-N35.
King, R. L., Hepler, B. P., Smith, L. L., " Jensen, J. B. (2016). The Status of Macrochelys temminckii (Alligator Snapping Turtle) in the Flint River, GA, 22 Years after the Close of Commercial Harvest. Southeastern naturalist, 15(4), 575-585.
Spangler, S. J. (2017). Ecology of Hatchling Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii). Ecology.
Trauth, S. E., Siegel, D. S., McCallum, M. L., Jamieson, D. H., Holt, A., Trauth, J. B., ... " Konvalina, J. D. (2016). Long-term Monitoring and Recovery of a Population of Alligator Snapping Turtles, Macrochelys temminckii (Testudines: Chelydridae), from a Northeastern Arkansas Stream. Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, 70(1), 235-247.
