Ninety percent of the world’s coastal freshwater turtle species are expected to be affected by sea level rise by 2100, according to a study from the University of California, Davis. This research is the first comprehensive global assessment of freshwater turtles that frequent brackish, or slightly salty, waters, and may hopefully help to guide conservation strategies for such turtles.
"About 30 percent of coastal freshwater species have been found or reported in a slight saltwater environment," explains researcher Mickey Agha, a UC Davis graduate student based in associate professor Brian Todd’s lab in the Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. "But they tend to live within a low-level range of salinity. If sea level rise increases salinity, we don’t yet know if they’ll be able to adapt or shift their range.”
The diamondback terrapin is a North American species that is found in brackish water
Photo courtesy Jay Ondreicka/
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