The purpose of this course is to prepare graduate students for the understanding of freshwater turtle general biology and ecology, and the methods used in conducting both field and laboratory research. The goal of the course is to enable the students so that they will be capable of designing and implementing their own projects aimed at determining management plans, conservation strategies, and basic research of freshwater turtles

From 18-24 September, between daily field sessions 4 hr lectures were given at the base camp of the Trombetas Reserve, Trombetas River, Pará State.

Lectures themes were the following:

• . Taxonomy, evolution, distribution, identification, and natural history of the freshwater turtles of the Amazon Basin
• . Economic and cultural Importance
• . Reproductive biology, ecology, genetics, diet, management in situ and ex situ, hunting pressure, sustainable use and the history and applications of the methods used for studying turtles in the field
• . Biology(physiology, anatomy, embryology)
• . Ecology (life tables, reproduction, feeding, predation, growth, movements, predation)
• . Laboratory Techniques: ( incubation, ethology, anatomy, stomach content analysis, digestive efficiency)
• . Field Techniques –

1. 1 Collecting methods: traps, trammel nets, basking traps, baited traps, fyke nets
2. 2 Marking methods: notching, drilling holes, numbered tags, painted numbers, photos, pit tags
3. 3 Use of radio transmitters
4. 4 Data loggers for recording nest temperatures and adult core temperatures
5. 5 Induction of oviposition with oxytocin injection
6. 6 Incubation of eggs in laboratory and in nature.

• . Management (Captive rearing, sustainable harvests) Conservation Programs (CENAQUA, Mamiraua, TAMAR)

The 25 students were divided into 5 groups, so that all students could participate in each of the field activities. Activities were designed to practice a wide array of methods used in freshwater turtle field studies. Additionally, at least one person in each group was able to learn how drive an outboard motor.

Capture: The use of hand capture, poling, dip netting, baited hoop traps, basking traps, snares, pit falls, fyke nets, carphorning with gill nets and trammel nets was discussed. Primarily the use of trammel nets and fyke nets was demonstrated since we were working in deep water and the presence of a large population of black caimans as well as piranhas made the use of baited traps undesirable. The construction of these nets and traps was explained as well as the correct method of setting the traps for different species of turtles was demonstrated. Trammel nets were checked every three hours to remove the turtles and other animals caught incidentally (fish, otters, caiman, capybaras, rays). During the course we captured 178 tracajás (Podocnemis unifilis), 8 tartaruga (Podocnemis expansa), and 25 iaçás (Podocnemis sextuberculata). The use of small baited Legler traps in a small forest stream was demonstrated one night but no turtles were captured.

Flushing stomach contents: The correct method for flushing stomach contents efficiently and safely from different sized turtles was demonstrated. Since John Legler’s description of this technique in 1975 the necessity of killing turtles for stomach content description has been eliminated saving countless turtles. All students had the opportunity to flush at least five turtle stomachs so that they could repeat the process in the future if their studies required it. Volume of individual items in the stomach contents was calculated in the field by water displacement in plastic syringes. Separation and preliminary analysis of the contents was done in the field lab. This was done to demonstrate the ease in separating fresh contents when their colors are distinct. The method of preserving the contents in 40% ethanol in small plastic bags was also demonstrated, labels were enclosed within the bags written in waterproof ink on rag paper. The use of small plastic bags rather than glass or plastic bottles was emphasized as a space saving device as well as an economic measure. The bags are stored in the field in plastic buckets with ethanol.

We demonstrated the use of three common methods used to mark adult tracajás and iacás: 1.) Scute marking, rectangular cuts with a hack saw or holes drilled in the marginal scutes, 2.) Electronic tags, PIT tags injected in the caudal musculature, and 3.) numbered plastic Floy Tags® attached to holes drilled in the marginal scutes. Other methods for temporarily marking turtles were discussed, such as the use of toe clipping for hatchling turtles, I have recaptured adult Kinosternon leucostomum in Mexico that were both pit tagged and toe clipped as hatchlings and were recaptured in the field 14 years later. During the course a P. unifilis was recovered that had been PIT tagged 11 years earlier. Standard morphometric measurements (CL, CW CH, PL, and HW) of each captured turtle were taken by all students to show variation the measurements when recorded by different people. Also all students practiced, until they were adept, collecting blood from turtles for genetic studies. The blood was preserved in 95% ethanol and stored in a gas refrigerator in the field camp until taken to the lab in Manaus.

Identification sexual and interspecífic: The characteristics used for identifying the local turtles (Podocnemis expansa, P. unifilis, P. sextuberculata) were detailed.. Furthermore, the basic characters used to determine the sex in these species was demonstrated (tail length and width, invagination of the plastron, and head coloration).

Nesting on protected beaches: All of the students were trained on how to distinguish the tracks of the different species of turtles on the nesting beach; and where and how each species nested in the REBIO Trombetas. The students were then shown how to find and excavate turtle nests, and how take morphometric measurements of the eggs and nests. They were also trained in the correct methods for transferring eggs to artificial nests in protected areas when necessary. Included in this demonostration was a discussion on the use of temperature data loggers in the nests and beaches to record nest temperatures and predict the sex of the resulting hatchlings. Also methods for incubating eggs including incubators, media, and temperatures for optimum production of healthy hatchlings of the desired sex were discussed. Additionally, the theories behind and the practices of manipulating incubation temperatures of species with environmental sex determination was discussed at length. Lastly, we demonstrated how gravid females can be induced to oviposit by the injected of oxytocin. The use of x-rays and ultrasound were also discussed, but not demonstrated, as we currently do not own these apparatuses.

Each student chose a journal article or book chapter about a selected topic to present during nightly seminars. Topics included population studies of turtles, management, nesting ecology, reproductive biology, temperature controlled sex determination, sex ratios in natural populations, population genetics, ecology, movements, and diet.

Students in this program often have gone on to become park or reserve Managers (Deisi Balenseifer), secretaries of the environment in local (Alexandre Batistella—Santa Isabel de Rio Negro), state (Alexandre Batistella—Sec. Meio Ambiente Mata Grosso) or federal government agencies (Fernando Raeder—IBAMA, Brasilia), university professors (Jaurez Pezutti), and some full time turtle researchers. I have been teaching this course almost yearly since 1989, principally for Brazilian students, but have also had participants from USA, Canada, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Argentina, and Mexico. In addition to graduate students usually 1 or 2 government employees of the Brazilian Fish and Wildlife Service (IBAMA) also take the course.