Current conservation status of Australian freshwater turtles

Globally, turtles are among the most threatened vertebrate taxa, with over 60% of all species being listed as endangered, threatened, or vulnerable (Turtle Conservation Coalition 2011). Australian freshwater turtles are not immune from this trend, and 44% (11 of 25 taxa) are currently listed as vulnerable or worse at state or federal levels, and/or by the IUCN (Table 1). Recent studies are increasingly reporting declines in Australian turtle species, either as long-term trends (Chessman 2011) driven by a variety of factors including invasive species (Spencer et al. 2016), drought (Bower et al. 2012), and/or habitat modification (Ferronato et al. 2016; Ocock et al. 2018), or as rapid crashes caused by disease events that remain poorly understood (Spencer et al. 2018). Accordingly, we convened a conference on freshwater turtle conservation in Canberra, ACT, in February 2017 to discuss the threats to Australian turtle populations. We also aimed to establish a dialogue among turtle biologists, indigenous stakeholders, reserve managers, zoo curators, and interested members of the public, which would facilitate the development and implementation of conservation strategies nationwide. This special issue of Australian Journal of Zoology is the product of that meeting.