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Turtles and tortoises (chelonians) have been integral components of global ecosystems for about 220 million years and have played important roles in human culture for at least 400,000 years. The chelonian shell is a remarkable evolutionary adaptation, facilitating success in terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Today, more than half of the 360 living species and 482 total taxa (species and subspecies combined) are threatened with extinction. This places chelonians among the groups with the highest extinction risk of any sizeable vertebrate group. Turtle populations are declining rapidly due to habitat loss, consumption by humans for food and traditional medicines and collection for the international pet trade. Many taxa could become extinct in this century. Here, we examine survival threats to turtles and tortoises and discuss the interventions that will be needed to prevent widespread extinction in this group in coming decades.

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Aim Unsustainable hunting is leading to widespread defaunation across the tropics. To mitigate against this threat with limited conservation resources, stakeholders must make decisions on where to focus anti‐poaching activities. Identifying priority areas in a robust way allows decision‐makers to target areas of conservation importance, therefore maximizing the impact of conservation interventions. Location Annamite mountains, Vietnam and Laos. Methods We conducted systematic landscape‐scale surveys across five study sites (four protected areas, one unprotected area) using camera‐trapping and leech‐derived environmental DNA. We analysed detections within a Bayesian multispecies occupancy framework to evaluate species responses to environmental and anthropogenic influences. Species responses were then used to predict occurrence to unsampled regions. We used predicted species richness maps and occurrence of endemic species to identify areas of conservation importance for targeted conservation interventions. Results Analyses showed that habitat‐based covariates were uninformative. Our final model therefore incorporated three anthropogenic covariates as well as elevation, which reflects both ecological and anthropogenic factors. Conservation‐priority species tended to found in areas that are more remote now or have been less accessible in the past, and at higher elevations. Predicted species richness was low and broadly similar across the sites, but slightly higher in the more remote site. Occupancy of the three endemic species showed a similar trend. Main conclusion Identifying spatial patterns of biodiversity in heavily defaunated landscapes may require novel methodological and analytical approaches. Our results indicate that to build robust prediction maps it is beneficial to sample over large spatial scales, use multiple detection methods to increase detections for rare species, include anthropogenic covariates that capture different aspects of hunting pressure and analyse data within a Bayesian multispecies framework. Our models further suggest that more remote areas should be prioritized for anti‐poaching efforts to prevent the loss of rare and endemic species.

Molecular barcoding can serve as a powerful tool in wildlife forensics and may prove to be a vital aid in conserving organisms that are threatened by illegal wildlife trade, such as turtles (Order Testudines). We produced cytochrome oxidase subunit one (COI) sequences (650 bp) for 174 turtle species and combined these with publicly available sequences for 50 species to produce a data set representative of the breadth of the order. Variability within the barcode region was assessed, and the utility of both distance-based and character-based methods for species identification was evaluated. For species in which genetic material from more than one individual was available (n = 69), intraspecific divergences were 1.3% on average, although divergences greater than the customary 2% barcode threshold occurred within 15 species. High intraspecific divergences could indicate species with a high degree of internal genetic structure or possibly even cryptic species, although introgression is also probable in some of these taxa. Divergences between species of the same genus were 6.4% on average; however, 49 species were <2% divergent from congeners. Low levels of interspecific divergence could be caused by recent evolutionary radiations coupled with the low rates of mtDNA evolution previously observed in turtles. Complementing distance-based barcoding with character-based methods for identifying diagnostic sets of nucleotides provided better resolution in several cases where distance-based methods failed to distinguish species. An online identification engine was created to provide character-based identifications. This study constitutes the first comprehensive barcoding effort for this seriously threatened order.

Aim: Unsustainable hunting is leading to widespread defaunation across the tropics. To 21 mitigate against this threat with limited conservation resources, stakeholders must 22 make decisions on where to focus anti-poaching activities. Identifying priority areas in a 23 robust way allows decision-makers to target areas of conservation importance, 24 therefore maximizing the impact of conservation interventions. 25 Location: Annamite mountains, Vietnam and Laos.26 2 Methods: We conducted systematic landscape-scale surveys across five study sites (four 27 protected areas, one unprotected area) using camera-trapping and leech-derived 28 environmental DNA. We analyzed detections within a Bayesian multi-species occupancy 29 framework to evaluate species responses to environmental and anthropogenic 30 influences. Species responses were then used to predict occurrence to unsampled 31 regions. We used predicted species richness maps and occurrence of endemic species to 32 identify areas of conservation importance for targeted conservation interventions.33 Results: Analyses showed that habitat-based covariates were uninformative. Our final 34 model therefore incorporated three anthropogenic covariates as well as elevation, which 35 reflects both ecological and anthropogenic factors. Conservation-priority species tended 36to found in areas that are more remote now or have been less accessible in the past, and 37 at higher elevations. Predicted species richness was low and broadly similar across the 38 sites, but slightly higher in the more remote site. Occupancy of the three endemic species 39 showed a similar trend. 40Main conclusion: Identifying spatial patterns of biodiversity in heavily-defaunated 41 landscapes may require novel methodological and analytical approaches. Our results 42 indicate to build robust prediction maps it is beneficial to sample over large spatial 43 scales, use multiple detection methods to increase detections for rare species, include 44 anthropogenic covariates that capture different aspects of hunting pressure, and analyze 45 data within a Bayesian multi-species framework. Our models further suggest that more 46 remote areas should be prioritized for anti-poaching efforts to prevent the loss of rare 47 and endemic species. 48