Yolarnie Amepou | |
---|---|
Born | 1988 (age 35–36) Madang, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea |
Education | University of Papua New Guinea University of Canberra |
Occupation(s) | Herpetologist; conservationist |
Known for | Director of the Piku Biodiversity Network |
Yolarnie Amepou (born 1988) is a zoologist and conservationist from Papua New Guinea. She is known for her work to protect the Papuan softshell turtle ( Carettochelys insculpta ) in Kikori. In 2017 she was a Youth Champion for the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. She was also received a Pride of Papua New Guinea Award for Environment in 2015.
Amepou was born in Madang in 1988 and attended Holy Spirit Primary School, then Tushab Secondary School. [2] She studied at the University of Papua New Guinea and graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science with a focus on marine biology. [3] After graduation from her BSc, during her honours year of study, she volunteered for the “Piku” project, a Canberra University research and conservation program to protect the endangered Papuan softshell turtle - Carettochelys insculpta. [3] The project was funded by ExxonMobil, which then funded her Master's degree at the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra. [3] [4] In 2019 she was appointed Director of the Piku Biodiversity Network Inc., which emerged from the previous conservation programme. [5] [6] Human harvesting of the turtles is the major threat they face in Papua New Guinea, and Amepou's work encourages communities to self-impose no-harvest zones and to monitor turtle numbers to try to build sustainable populations. [7] [8]
In addition to her work on the project, she works and researches as a herpetologist. In 2015, alongside a team of Australian scientists, she described the new species Elseya rhodini and the subgenus Hanwarachelys within the genus Elseya as part of a revision of the species complex around the New Guinea snapping turtle Elseya novaeguineae . The research team worked on the entire species complex and, in addition to the newly described species, also raised Elseya schultzei , previously regarded as a synonym, to species status again. [9] In 2017 she was part of the team that established the Endangered status of the Papuan Softshell Turtle status for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). [10] In June 2019, she co-authored an article appeared on the status of the chytrid fungus ( Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ), which is pathogenic in numerous amphibians. [11]
Carettochelyidae is a family of cryptodiran turtles belonging to the Trionychia. It contains only a single living species, the pig-nosed turtle native to New Guinea and Northern Australia. Stem-group carettochelyids are known from the Cretaceous of Asia, with the family being widely distributed across North America, Europe, Asia and Africa during much of the Cenozoic.
The pig-nosed turtle, also known commonly as the Fly River turtle, the pitted-shelled turtle, and the Warrajan is a species of turtle in the family Carettochelyidae. The species, which is native to northern Australia and southern New Guinea, is the only living member of the genus Carettochelys and family Carettochelyidae, a family which also contains many fossil species which are related to the softshell turtles of the family Trionychidae.
The Kikori River is a major river in southern Papua New Guinea on the island of New Guinea. The river has a total length of 445 km (277 mi) and flows southeast into the Gulf of Papua, with its delta at the head of the gulf. The settlement of Kikori lies on the delta.
Trionychia is a superfamily of turtles which encompasses the species that are commonly referred to as softshelled turtles as well as some others. The group contains two families, Carettochelyidae, which has only one living species, the pig-nosed turtle native to New Guinea and Northern Australia, and Trionychidae, the softshelled turtles, containing numerous species native to Asia, North America and Africa. These families likely diverged during the late Jurassic. The oldest known stem-trionychian is Sinaspideretes from the Late Jurassic of China.
The southern New Guinea giant softshell turtle is a species of softshell turtle in the family Trionychidae. The species is endemic to the lowlands of southern New Guinea with occasional vagrant individuals sighted off the coast of northern Australia. There is no confirmed Australian record. P. bibroni is referred to by the Suki people as kiya eise, a reference to its flexible shell. In the Arammba language, it is called sokrere, meaning "earthquake". It is sometimes hunted by local villages for its meat and/or eggs, leading to some cases of chelonitoxism.
Elseya is a genus of large side-necked turtles, commonly known as Australian snapping turtles, in the family Chelidae. Species in the genus Elseya are found in river systems in northern and northeastern Australia and throughout the river systems of New Guinea. They are identified by the presence of alveolar ridges on the triturating surfaces of the mouth and the presence of a complex bridge strut.
Elseya branderhorsti, also known commonly as Branderhorst's turtle and Branderhorst's snapping turtle, is a species of freshwater turtle in the family Chelidae. The species is endemic to southern New Guinea, in West Papua Indonesia and Western Province of Papua New Guinea. Until recently it has been a confusing species due to its lost holotype and its sympatry with another, undescribed, species. E. branderhorsti is currently listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN RedList in part due to its vulnerability to the Asian turtle trade.
The Western New Guinea stream turtle or New Guinea snapping turtle is a species of freshwater turtle in the Chelidae family. It is found in the Bird's Head Peninsula and the Bomberai Peninsula west of Cenderawasih Bay, and on the island of Waigeo of West Papua, Indonesia.
Elseya uberrima is a Pliocene species of extinct Australian snapping turtle.
The Yam languages, also known as the Morehead River languages, are a family of Papuan languages. They include many of the languages south and west of the Fly River in Papua New Guinea and Indonesian West Papua.
The Gulf snapping turtle or Lavaracks' turtle is a large species of freshwater turtle in the sidenecked family Chelidae. The species is endemic to northern Australia in northwest Queensland and northeast Northern Territory. The species, similar to other members of the Australian snapping turtles in genus Elseya, only comes ashore to lay eggs and bask. The Gulf snapping turtle is a herbivore and primarily consumes Pandanus and figs.
Elseya dentata, the northern snapping turtle, is a large aquatic turtle found throughout many rivers in northern Western Australia and the Northern Territory. It is one of three species in the nominate subgenus Elseya.
The Trans Fly savanna and grasslands are a lowland ecoregion on the south coast of the island of New Guinea in both the Indonesian and Papua New Guinean sides of the island. With their monsoon and dry season climate these grasslands are quite different from the tropical rainforest that covers most of the island and resemble the landscape of northern Australia which lies to the south.
The northern New Guinea giant softshell turtle is a species of turtle found in the lowlands of northern New Guinea. South of the Central Range it is replaced by the closely related southern New Guinea giant softshell turtle. It is threatened by overhunting and harvesting of eggs as well as significant habitat loss of aquatic vegetation due to introduced fish species such as the red-bellied pacu.
Elseya schultzei, commonly known as Schultze's snapping turtle, is a species of chelid turtle endemic to northern New Guinea.
The Goomadeer River is a river in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Elseya rhodini, the southern New Guinea stream turtle, is a recently described aquatic species of chelid turtle found south of the central ranges of New Guinea. It inhabits small streams that flow into the major river drainage's south of the ranges.
Elseya flaviventralis, the yellow bellied snapping turtle, is a species of large river snapping turtles from the Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is a member of the nominate subgenus Elseya.
Richard Carl "Dick" Vogt was an American herpetologist based in Brazil. He was the director of the Centro de Estudos de Quelônios da Amazônia at the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA).
Miriam Supuma is a conservationist in Papua New Guinea (PNG). She was the co-founder and co-director of the PNG Institute of Biological Research (PNGIBR), a scientific research NGO. Her field research has centred around Birds of Paradise, particularly in relation to the use of their feathers for traditional adornment by people in the highlands of PNG.