Conservation of the European pond turtle through population reinforcement in Liguria, Northern Italy

Summary

The European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis), Near Threatened globally but Endangered in Italy, survives in Liguria's Centa river valley as a single, small, fragmented population of its endemic subspecies E. o. ingauna, threatened by habitat loss and invasive American terrapins. Since 2000, a coalition of the Province of Savona, University of Genova, the Aquarium of Genova, and conservation NGOs has run a reinforcement program combining habitat restoration, invasive species removal, and captive breeding at a local facility, supported since 2013 by an EU LIFE project. Using regional, provincial and EU funding plus EAZA sponsorship, the project acquired and protected a natural area, restored three ponds, and since 2008 has released more than 200 captive-bred sub-adult turtles across five sites, while a 2014 eradication campaign targeting three invasive terrapin species, dominated by Trachemys scripta elegans, which shows signs of reproducing locally, has removed 95 individuals to date. Seasonal trapping and radio-tracking of marked, released turtles found recapture rates over 80%, suggesting successful establishment, though no evidence of breeding by released individuals has yet been confirmed given the species' slow life cycle. Difficulties included rapid pond siltation requiring ongoing management, the persistent difficulty of eradicating reproducing invasive terrapins, shrinking public conservation funding, and poor habitat connectivity across a heavily modified river plain. The project rates itself successful, crediting new protected habitat, high post-release survival from releasing sub-adults, strong multi-agency coordination, and public engagement that has made the turtle a local flagship species, while noting confirmed wild breeding remains the missing indicator.