Between the bay and a hard place: Altered diamondback terrapin nesting movements demonstrate the effects of coastal barriers upon estuarine wildlife

Abstract

Human development can impede wildlife moving between complementary habitats, particularly in highly disturbed coastal ecosystems. Coastal barriers may affect the behavior of diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin), a salt-tolerant estuarine turtle that requires access to complementary upland habitat for annual nesting. We used telemetry to quantify terrestrial and aquatic movements of 78 nesting female terrapins in response to coastal barriers at 2 sites in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, a heavily developed estuary. Nesting female terrapins traveled significantly greater distances with more tortuous paths or spent significantly more time in the water when their movements were obstructed than females nesting at beaches with no obstructions. We hypothesize that the additional effort and displacement associated with reproduction where obstructions exist will reduce terrapin fitness and potentially contribute to population declines. Our study demonstrates a unique approach to quantifying effects of barriers on organisms requiring complementary habitats, and improves our understanding of the impacts of shoreline hardening on estuarine wildlife threatened by encroaching coastal development. Ó 2015 The Wildlife Society.

Estimating Changing Marshland Habitat and Conservation Potential for Diamondback Terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) in New Jersey under Climate Change

“…Marsh migration is associated with terrapin habitat moving inland, which could place terrapins at a higher risk of development pressures and other human activity. Living in more developed land has the potential to lengthen nesting travel through more dangerous terrain [38] with the risk of exposure to roads [3]. The results indicate that as habitat ranges migrate, they often exceed the boundaries of protected areas, with a maximum of 15.5% of habitat being subtracted from the current 65.4% of habitat under protection.…”

Prioritization of Vulnerable Species Under Scenarios of Anthropogenic-Driven Change in Georgia's Coastal Plain

“…For example, the building of seawalls is rapidly becoming a common urban planning technique to address SLR. Researchers have shown seawalls to have negative impacts on diamondback terrapin nesting habitat and to be correlated with reduced occupancy (Isdell et al 2015;Winters et al 2015). While efforts to construct seawalls are presently limited in Georgia, it is reasonable to assume that armoring of shorelines will be a mitigation tactic employed in the future, meaning that SLEUTH is presently unable to capture these relationships.…”

Post‐emergence movements and habitat use by hatchling diamondback terrapins

“…Since 1832, approximately 53% of Rhode Island salt marshes have been lost owing to land use changes and urbanization, the largest percentage among New England states (Bromberg and Bertness 2005). Sea level rise, marsh subsidence, and erosion further reduce estuarine habitat availability and quality (Woodland et al 2017), while shoreline hardening and the development of coastal uplands restrict the accessibility and availability of uplands for terrapins (Crawford et al 2014, Winters et al 2015). An estimated 9,200 ha of suitable coastal terrapin habitat remains in Rhode Island (S. Egger, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey, unpublished report).…”