Despite increasing pressures on freshwater resources worldwide, and the threatened status of most freshwater turtles, there is still limited knowledge of habitat use and niche partitioning in Afrotropical freshwater turtle communities. In this study, we describe habitat associations, community diversity, and temporal patterns of occurrence of freshwater turtle species in the Dahomey Gap ecoregion of Ghana (West Africa). We gathered data from 13 sites in central Ghana and along the Sene Arm of Lake Volta in the Digya National Park (Bono East Region). We employed opportunistic short-term surveys (at seven sites) together with longer-term (six-months duration) standardized evaluations of turtle presence and numbers in different habitats (at six sites). Overall, a total of 210 turtle individuals of four species (Trionyx triunguis, Cyclanorbis senegalensis, Pelomedusa sp. and Pelusios castaneus) were recorded; precise capture sites and habitat type were recorded for 139 individuals, but the 71 individuals observed in marketplaces were not considered in our analyses. At a local scale, we observed three sympatric species in various study sites. In each of these sites, the dominant species was either C. senegalensis or Pelomedusa sp., with the latter species being more abundant in temporary waterbodies and C. senegalensis more numerous in permanent ones. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis suggested that, in permanent waterbodies all species were associated with similar physical habitat variables. In a Canonical Correspondence Analysis, we showed that the density of herbaceous emergent vegetation was more important for P. castaneus than for C. senegalensis. Comparisons of diversity metrics between our study sites and previous studies revealed that turtle community composition was similar across savannah sites.

尽管全球范围内对淡水资源的压力越来越大，大多数淡水龟的地位受到威胁，但在非洲热带淡水龟群落中，关于栖息地使用和生态位分配的知识仍然有限。在这项研究中，我们描述了加纳（西非）达荷美峡生态区的栖息地协会，群落多样性和淡水龟物种发生的时间模式。我们收集了加纳中部和Digya国家公园（波诺东部地区）伏尔塔湖塞内河沿岸13个站点的数据。我们采用了机会主义的短期调查（在七个地点），并进行了长期（六个月）的标准化评估，以评估不同栖息地（六个地点）的海龟的存在和数量。总体而言，共有210种4种龟类（Trionyx triunguis，塞内加尔Cyclanorbis，Pelomedusa sp。和Pelusios castaneus）被记录；记录了139个个体的精确捕获地点和栖息地类型，但我们的分析未考虑在市场上观察到的71个个体。在当地范围内，我们在各个研究地点观察到三种同胞物种。在这些地点的每一个中，优势种是塞内加尔角藻或Pelomedusa sp。，后者在临时水体和塞内加尔角藻中含量更高。永久性的数量更多。多重对应分析表明，在永久性水体中，所有物种都具有相似的物理生境变量。在典范对应分析中，我们显示出草本生草的密度对于P. castaneus比对C. senegalensis更为重要。我们的研究地点与先前研究之间的多样性指标比较表明，各大草原地点的海龟群落组成相似。