<p>Understanding and adequately
protecting habitat is at the forefront of modern conservation concerns. Turtles
are especially vulnerable to habitat loss, and are therefore a top priority for
habitat research. To help meet this need, I used radio telemetry to collect
microhabitat data from two imperiled species of turtles that occupy a military
base in Michigan. Preliminary data exploration was carried out with principal
components analysis (PCA). Microhabitat use was then modeled for each species using
conditional logistic regression (CLR), with a generalized estimating equation
(GEE) element to limit bias due to individual variation. Finally, I compared
habitat use between sympatric Blanding’s and Wood Turtles using Mann-Whitney U
tests and Mood’s median tests to investigate the degree of overlap in
microhabitat use when these species occur in sympatry. Evidence for
microhabitat selection in Blanding’s Turtles was weak, suggesting that they
likely do not make habitat decisions at this level. Wood Turtles selected sites
that were farther from water and had fewer trees, less overstory canopy cover,
and more ground cover. Additionally, the two species differed in several
aspects of microhabitat use; Wood Turtles were more terrestrial and more
tolerant of tree cover than Blanding’s Turtles. Patterns of microhabitat use
found in this study match previously observed behavior of turtles in high
quality habitat, suggesting that managers should work to maintain the habitat
currently available at Camp Grayling. Additionally, because both turtle species
were associated with open canopy, selective logging could benefit turtles
provided care is given to timing and methods. </p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/12269468 |
| Date | 08 May 2020 |
| Creators | Reine K Sovey (8812556) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/Microhabitat_Use_by_Blanding_s_Turtles_i_Emydoidea_blandingii_i_and_Wood_Turtles_i_Glyptemys_insculpta_i_in_a_Shared_Landscape/12269468 |
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