Wood turtles (Clemmys insculpta) are a threatened species in Wisconsin that is in need of some help. The UWSP Herpetology Society has found an urban population of wood turtles located in Portage County. Various members came up with a proposal and successfully applied for permits to work with this species. The project is rather broad and entails gathering specific information form each turtle. Some of the things we will be looking for include carapace and plastron length and width, the weight, age, and sex of each turtle, as well as noting any external parasites that might be found. In addition to this we will be using radio transmitters to monitor up to 14 individual turtles. With this equipment we hope to get an idea as to how large their home range is. Then we will compare it to studies that have been performed on rural populations to see if their range has been substantially reduced. Since the transmitters will remain on the turtles for one year we will also be monitoring the turtles during the wintertime to verify if there is any winter activity. By gathering information pertaining to age and population size we aim to find out if the population is sustaining or if it is a remnant population that was thriving at one point. The length of this study has not been determined yet, but it is expected to last at least five years. This will be the first study on wood turtles found in an urban population in Wisconsin.
Wood
turtle project update - 2/14/00
The wood turtle project has been creeping slowly but steadily along through
these cold winter months. We have recently located where a few of
the turtles have been hibernating. We are now going to concentrate
on getting the GPS data taken care of. Traps will be set to find
new turtles early this spring.
Questions
or concerns... Contact the project
leader.
Back