Sulemana Bawa
Other projects
12 Sep 2016
Population Status and Conservation of the Critically Endangered Nubian Flap-Shell Turtle (Cyclanorbis elegans), Ghana
Gaps in knowledge in the diversity, populations and distribution of freshwater turtles in Ghanaian waters remain enormous. While informal reports demonstrate interesting results, including the potential survival of critically endangered species such as the nubian flapshell turtle (Cyclanorbis elegans), very little scientific data is available to support this. Opportunistic encounters and local accounts report the existence of a number of physiologically different species of softshell turtles and many other hard-shell turtle species across many inland water systems, of which only a few of these populations have been scientifically described.
Having previously described the freshwater turtle species diversity and habitat association in the Sene arm of the Volta Lake (Gbewaa, et al., 2021), this project will investigate the community structure of freshwater turtles along the Upper Volta basin in Ghana. The White Volta Basin is one of the four main sub-basins of the Volta River system contributing, on average, 20% annual inflow to the Volta Lake from a single raining season. We will conduct ecological and market surveys and collect social data to inform socio-cultural knowledge of the diversity of freshwater turtles, and the ethno-medicinal uses and species consumption among rural communities. The Nubian flapshell turtle (Cyclanorbis elegans) is a priority for this project as the sampling sites overlap the historic ranges of this critically endangered species.
Specifically, the project will assess the diversity, population and distribution of freshwater turtles in four catchments of the Upper Volta basin and compare community structure and habitat association across the study sites. We will also assess ethno-ecological knowledge of the diversity, consumption and turtle usage in folk medicine across ethnic and cultural settings along the Upper Volta basin. This will reveal the variety of social, economic and cultural uses of turtles across the major ethnic and cultural groupings at the study sites, as well as the prevalence of turtles and/or turtle parts in local markets, supply and demand routes, and seasonal dynamics in trade and usage.