The
conversion of natural habitat to urban areas has lasting impacts on wildlife
and biodiversity. Known effects to urban wildlife include direct mortality
while crossing roads, reduced species diversity, and habitat fragmentation and degradation.
Among wildlife occupying urban areas, turtle populations can be particularly
impacted in anthropogenic landscapes. Snapping Turtle (<i>Chelydra serpentina</i>)
is one of the most common species found within urban wetlands, but populations
are beginning to show declines in northern portions of their geographic range.
The preservation and management of this species is aided by knowledge related
to its spatial ecology. I investigated <i>C.
serpentina</i> home range, movement, habitat use, and habitat selection in a midwestern
USA urban wetland complex during two active seasons (May-August 2019 and 2020)
using radiotelemetry. Home range sizes and movement did not differ between sex
or sample year except the mean movement of males decreased from 2019 to 2020.
No differences in mean monthly movement were found between sexes but mean
monthly movement did differ between month and year. Habitat use was skewed
during the active season and did not differ between sex or year, but there were
positive habitat associations between forested wetlands and modal centers of
activity (MCA). Habitat selection was tested at two spatial scales by comparing
random points to home ranges and turtle locations using Euclidean Distance
Analysis. Turtles appeared to select home ranges from available habitat site-wide
but did not select habitat within home ranges. Home range selection included
semi-permanent open water, trail, road/barrier, permanent open water, scrub-shrub,
ditches, shoreline, and vegetated ponds, while upland forest, field and
agriculture habitat were avoided. Home ranges appear to be constrained by
available habitat and movement differences between years may be due to anthropogenic
change in water levels. The use of space seems to be more affected by wetland
size and connectivity than proximity to barriers, which suggests that
management practices that protect turtles from accessing roads and railways
will benefit populations. Additionally, habitat selection and association
indicate that ditches are utilized as corridors between wetland areas. When
feasible, increasing the connectivity of large wetlands containing many habitat
types should have positive impacts on the persistence of populations in human
dominated landscapes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:purdue.edu/oai:figshare.com:article/16806787 |
| Date | 22 November 2021 |
| Creators | Zachary Robert Kellogg (11559850) |
| Source Sets | Purdue University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis |
| Rights | CC BY 4.0 |
| Relation | https://figshare.com/articles/thesis/SPATIAL_ECOLOGY_OF_SNAPPING_TURTLE_CHELYDRA_SERPENTINA_WITHIN_AN_URBAN_WETLAND_COMPLEX/16806787 |
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