Movement and Space Use in Southern Populations of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata)

Chandler, Houston C.; Stegenga, Benjamin S.; Stevenson, Dirk J.

doi:10.1656/058.018.0411

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Mean home-range sizes (x ¯ = 5.06 ha) at our site were fairly large compared with other spotted turtle studies, though within what has been reported for this species, which varies substantially across the species range from <1 to 16 ha (Litzgus and Mousseau 2004;Yagi and Litzgus 2012;Rowe et al 2013;Chandler et al 2019). Home-range varies among species of semi-aquatic turtles, with some of the smallest (0.013 ha) home-ranges belonging to Kinosternon acutum (Iverson and Vogt 2011) and the largest (327.6 ha) to Trachemys scripta (Jaeger and Cobb 2012).…”

Section: Space-usesupporting

confidence: 55%

“…In the northernmost populations, which are more constrained by cold weather and long hibernation periods (up to 7 months), there is a shorter unimodal active season with peak activity in late spring (Litzgus and Brooks 2000;Litzgus and Mousseau 2004;Beaudry et al 2009). In the southernmost populations, there a bimodal active season with peak activity in spring and late summer, though some turtles may forgo both aestivation and hibernation and retain low activity levels across the entire year (Litzgus and Mousseau 2004;Stevenson et al 2015;Chandler et al 2019). The timing of movement at our site may indicate an intermediate activity pattern with a unimodal spring activity peak typical of northernmost populations, and longer active season and intermittent activity during summer more typical of southernmost populations.…”

Section: Movementmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…Lastly, we expected to see differences in movement and space-use between adult and juvenile turtles, because juveniles are constrained by smaller size and heightened predator avoidance behaviours compared with adults (Congdon et al 1993;Bowne et al 2006). We did not expect to see a difference in movement and space-use between adult male and female turtles, which has been illustrated in previous studies (Rasmussen and Litzgus 2010a;Buchanan et al 2017;Chandler et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Yet, they depend on stable aquatic environments for hibernation and often exhibit fidelity to wetland patches (Litzgus et al 1999;Beaudry et al 2009;Ernst and Lovich 2009). Many studies of spotted turtle movement ecology have occurred in the southern and northernmost regions of the species range (Joyal et al 2001;Milam and Melvin 2001;Litzgus and Mousseau 2004;Rasmussen and Litzgus 2010a;Chandler et al 2019), but only one study (Ernst 1970;but see O'Bryan et al 2016) has been conducted in the central region. Additionally, no study to date has radio-located juvenile spotted turtles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Movement ecology of adult and juvenile spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) in a seasonally dynamic environment

2023

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Context Understanding the temporal and spatial scales at which wildlife move is vital for conservation and management. This is especially important for semi-aquatic species that make frequent inter-wetland movements to fulfil life-history requirements. Aims We aimed to investigate the drivers of movement and space-use of the imperilled spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), a seasonal wetland specialist, in three large, isolated wetland complexes in Virginia, USA. Methods We used VHF radio-transmitters to radio-locate adult and juvenile turtles, and estimated movement and space-use during their active and aestivation seasons (March–August). We then used generalised linear mixed models to examine how movement and space-use varied, based on intrinsic turtle characteristics and extrinsic wetland and climatic factors. Key results We show that, on average, individual spotted turtles used five wetlands per year (range 3–13), and that their inter-wetland movement and movement distance varied seasonally in accordance with wetland availability and breeding phenology. Spotted turtle movement and space-use was influenced by the arrangement and size of the wetland complexes, with turtles moving further and occupying larger home-ranges as size and distance between wetlands increased. Inter-wetland movement was not influenced by intrinsic turtle effects but larger adult turtles moved further, used more wetlands, and had larger home-ranges than smaller turtles. Conclusions Turtle responses to variation in season and wetland configuration highlight the need for complex and dynamic landscapes required to sustain this species. Implications This study has important conservation implications showing that spotted turtles rely on a large number of diverse wetlands, as well as upland habitat, to fulfil their resource needs – and that these habitat associations vary seasonally. Results from our study can aid the understanding of spatial and temporal variation in patch characteristics (e.g. quality and extent) and inter-patch movement by organisms, which is critical for the conservation and management of semi-aquatic species and other organisms that occupy patchy habitat complexes.

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Section: Space-usesupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Movementmentioning

confidence: 78%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Movement ecology of adult and juvenile spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) in a seasonally dynamic environment

2023

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“…We measured AI from the centroid of plot trap locations and only used wetlands that were classified as emergent, shrubland, and forested in the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) database. These represent the primary wetland types that spotted turtles occupy throughout their range (Chandler et al, 2019; Ernst & Lovich, 2009; Milam & Melvin, 2001). We converted NWI wetland shapefiles to a 30‐m raster using ArcGIS.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is the future female for turtles? Climate change and wetland configuration predict sex ratios of a freshwater species

Roberts

Willey

Jones³

et al. 2023

Global Change Biology

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Climate change and land‐use change are leading drivers of biodiversity decline, affecting demographic parameters that are important for population persistence. For example, scientists have speculated for decades that climate change may skew adult sex ratios in taxa that express temperature‐dependent sex determination (TSD), but limited evidence exists that this phenomenon is occurring in natural settings. For species that are vulnerable to anthropogenic land‐use practices, differential mortality among sexes may also skew sex ratios. We sampled the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), a freshwater species with TSD, across a large portion of its geographic range (Florida to Maine), to assess the environmental factors influencing adult sex ratios. We present evidence that suggests recent climate change has potentially skewed the adult sex ratio of spotted turtles, with samples following a pattern of increased proportions of females concomitant with warming trends, but only within the warmer areas sampled. At intermediate temperatures, there was no relationship with climate, while in the cooler areas we found the opposite pattern, with samples becoming more male biased with increasing temperatures. These patterns might be explained in part by variation in relative adaptive capacity via phenotypic plasticity in nest site selection. Our findings also suggest that spotted turtles have a context‐dependent and multi‐scale relationship with land use. We observed a negative relationship between male proportion and the amount of crop cover (within 300 m) when wetlands were less spatially aggregated. However, when wetlands were aggregated, sex ratios remained consistent. This pattern may reflect sex‐specific patterns in movement that render males more vulnerable to mortality from agricultural machinery and other threats. Our findings highlight the complexity of species' responses to both climate change and land use, and emphasize the role that landscape structure can play in shaping wildlife population demographics.

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Assessing habitat connectivity of rare species to inform urban conservation planning

McCluskey,

Kuzma,

Enander

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Urbanization is commonly associated with biodiversity loss and habitat fragmentation. However, urban environments often have greenspaces that can support wildlife populations, including rare species. The challenge for conservation planners working in these systems is identifying priority habitats and corridors for protection before they are lost. In a rapidly changing urban environment, this requires prompt decisions informed by accurate spatial information. Here, we combine several approaches to map habitat and assess connectivity for a diverse set of rare species in seven urban study areas across southern Michigan, USA. We incorporated multiple connectivity tools for a comprehensive appraisal of species‐habitat patterns across these urban landscapes. We observed distinct differences in connectivity by taxonomic group and site. The three turtle species (Blanding's, Eastern Box, and Spotted) consistently had more habitat predicted to be suitable per site than other evaluated species. This is promising for this at‐risk taxonomic group and allows conservation efforts to focus on mitigating threats such as road mortality. Grassland and prairie‐associated species (American Bumble Bee, Black and Gold Bumble Bee, and Henslow's Sparrow) had the least amount of habitat on a site‐by‐site basis. Kalamazoo and the northern Detroit sites had the highest levels of multi‐species connectivity across the entire study area based on the least cost paths. These connectivity results have direct applications in urban planning. Kalamazoo, one of the focal urban regions, has implemented a Natural Features Protection (NFP) plan to bolster natural area protections within the city. We compared our connectivity results to the NFP area and show where this plan will have an immediate positive impact and additional areas for potential consideration in future expansions of the protection network. Our results show that conservation opportunities exist within each of the assessed urban areas for maintaining rare species, a key benefit of this multi‐species and multi‐site approach.

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Movement and Space Use in Southern Populations of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata)

Cited by 10 publications

References 47 publications

Movement ecology of adult and juvenile spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) in a seasonally dynamic environment

Movement ecology of adult and juvenile spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata) in a seasonally dynamic environment

Is the future female for turtles? Climate change and wetland configuration predict sex ratios of a freshwater species

Assessing habitat connectivity of rare species to inform urban conservation planning

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