AUTHORS: Emily Sweet, Missouri Western State University; Andrew Byler, Missouri Western State University; Jared Kelly, Missouri Western State University; Tadyn Shaffer, Missouri Western State University; Mark S. Mills, Missouri Western State University
ABSTRACT: Long-term studies of turtle populations that live in ponds or wetlands often fit a metapopulation model, with turtles moving among ponds and recolonizing ponds or wetlands after drying events. However, few studies have examined turtle metapopulation dynamics in urban environments, and we are unaware of any long-term studies of urban turtle metapopulations. Faculty and students at Missouri Western State University have studied turtle populations on campus since 2009 with over 850 captures of five native species and three non-native subspecies. Missouri Western State University is located in Saint Joseph, Missouri and is surrounded by urban areas (e.g., residential, retail, and industry). This long-term study consisted of capturing and marking turtles and recording their movements among nine ponds on campus and three ponds adjacent to campus. This presentation will focus on the movements of the most common species on campus: Chelydra serpentina, Trachemys scripta, and Chrysemys picta. Over the past 15 years we have documented 77 turtles moving among the campus ponds and two turtles moving on or off campus. A male painted turtle moved off campus to a pond near Mosaic Hospital, covering a straight-line distance of 1,430 meters over two years. Another painted turtle moved from an off-campus pond to a campus pond, traveling 1,493 meters over 20 days. Overall, we found no significant differences among distance traveled among the three species; however, male painted turtles traveled significantly longer distances (mean±SE, 428±98m, N=15) than females (172±19 m, N=19; P=0.003). The results of this long-term study are important in the context of documenting the movement patterns of animals within an area, but also in and out of that area, particularly in an urban habitat.
