The Amazon River turtle Podocnemis expansa was studied during the nesting and hatching seasons (October and December of 1978, 1979, and 1980) at a protected site in a Biological Reserve on the Trombetas River, a tributary of the Amazon. Mean carapace length of nesting females was 66 cm and mean carapace width 59 cm. Mean clutch size was 91.5 eggs (with 95% hatching success) and was positively correlated to carapace length, carapace width, plastron length, and plastron width. Carapace width was positively correlated to egg chamber height, and egg chamber diameter was positively correlated with nest depth, clutch size, and plastron width. There is a synchronization between low water and nesting.
ResumoHá uma sincronização entre a vazante e o desencadeamento do comportamento de nidificação da tartaruga da Amazônia Podocnemis expansa. O comportamento de nidificação só começa quando o nível da água se estabiliza em seu nível mais baixo. A imprevisibilidade dos níveis de água no rio Trombetas, um tributário do Amazonas, no Pará, é um fator seletivo importante que influencia a data e a escolha do local da postura de P. expansa. A cheia rápida e imprevisí-vel (conhecida como repiquete) matou em 1980 99% dos embriões nos ovos em contraste com as estações de nidificação de 1978, 1979 e 1981 quando 95% dos ovos eclodiram com sucesso.
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