Spatial Ecology of Blanding’s Turtles (Emydoidea blandingii) in Southcentral New Hampshire with Implications to Road Mortality
Understanding the spatial ecology and habitat requirements of rare turtle species and the factors that threaten their populations is important for the success of long-term conservation programs. We present results on an eight-year field study in which we used radiotelemetry to monitor the activity and habitat use of 23 adult (male, n = 7; female, n = 16) Blanding’s turtles in southcentral New Hampshire. We found that females occupied home ranges (as defined by minimum convex polygons) that were approximately two times larger than the home ranges of males. Despite the sex difference in home range size, we found no sex difference in core area size (defined as the 50% kernel density estimate). We found that activity patterns varied by season, with increased activity each month after hibernation, and peak activity coinciding with the late spring-early summer nesting season. We observed sex-based and seasonal differences in wetland use. Males appeared to prefer emergent and scrub-shrub wetlands in each season, whereas females preferred scrub-shrub wetlands in spring and ponds in summer and fall. We identified road mortality risk as a potentially important threat for this population because females crossed roads ten times more frequently than males (based on proportion of observations). The preservation of wetland networks, as well as the implementation of measures to minimize road mortality, are important considerations for the long-term persistence of this population.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) - Department of the Air Force
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1395174
- Journal Information:
- Herpetological Conservation and Biology, Vol. 10, Issue 1; ISSN 1931-7603
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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