Conservation Paleobiology Provides New Insight Into the Decision-Making of Conservation Policy

Proper taxonomic identification is critical to our understanding of biodiversity and the underlying evolutionary history. Prof. Cheng-Hsiu Tsai and his team’s taxonomic revision of a Pleistocene geoemydid turtle from Taiwan confirms the existence of the Pleistocene Mauremys reevesii. Their results then offer a definitive example for conservation paleobiology – Mauremys reevesii in Taiwan should be considered a native species. Although the current population of M. reevesii in Taiwan seems to be human-introduced turtles from the pet trade or other human activities, Prof. Tasi’s discovery offers a novel perspective to consider whether it is likely for such a secondary-invaded population to rebuild its natural habitat that restores the vanished ecological role of Pleistocene Mauremys reevesii in Taiwan. This pioneering practice of conservation paleobiology in Taiwan then sheds new light on the decision-making of conservation policy and offers new insights into the origin of modern biodiversity in Taiwan.

This study was published in The Anatomical Record on October 1, 2022: https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ar.25082