Home and hub: pet trade and traditional medicine impact reptile populations in source locations and destinations

Abstract

The pet trade and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) consumption are major drivers of global biodiversity loss. Tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) are among the most traded reptile species worldwide. In Hong Kong, pet and TCM markets sell tokay geckos while wild populations also persist. To clarify connections between trade sources and destinations, we compared genetics and stable isotopes of wild tokays in local and non-local populations to dried individuals from TCM markets across Hong Kong. We found that TCM tokays are likely not of local origin. Most wild tokays were related to individuals in South China, indicating a probable natural origin. However, two populations contained individuals more similar to distant populations, indicating pet trade origins. Our results highlight the complexity of wildlife trade impacts within trade hubs. Such trade dynamics complicate local legal regulation when endangered species are protected, but the same species might also be non-native and possibly damaging to the environment.

Keywords: exotic species; genetic pollution; pets; tokay gecko; traditional medicine; wildlife trade.

Figure 1.

Representation of the consequences of TCM (blue arrows, generally traded not alive) and pet trade (purple arrows, should be traded live) for native and introduced populations at the source, hub, and destination (i.e. world). Red ‘−’ represents negative impacts, green ‘+’ represents positive impact. The blue line represents the TCM trade, the purple line for the pet trade. The solid lines represent pathways of trade from the source to destination while dashed lines represent hub-related pathways. (Online version in colour.)

Figure 2.

Phylogenetic tree of G. gecko based on partial ND2 gene (752 bp) using maximum-likelihood method. Sequences from Hong Kong wild-caught individuals (n = 51) are written in orange, from TCM shops (n = 29) in blue, and from a captive individual (n = 1) in green. Clade (a–e), subclade (A1 and A2) and haplogroup (G1–G10) classification follow Saijuntha et al. [29] and Fieldsend et al. [40]. G. smithii was used as an outgroup. The scale-bar indicates the expected number of substitutions per site. Bootstrap values > 70 are represented by thick lines. Visualized with iTOL v.5 [30]. Red and black silhouettes represent red- and black-spotted geckos morphs either observed or described in relevant papers. (Online version in colour.)

Figure 3.

Biplot of δ15N versus δ13C of wild HK populations (orange triangles, n = 49) and TCM individuals from shops (blue dots, n = 36). Dashed line represents 95% CI of each group. (Online version in colour.)