Habitat selection by the wood turtle (Clemmys insculpta) at the northern limit of its range

Abstract

We characterized the chronology of habitat use by the wood turtle, Clemmys insculpta (LeC., 1829), in the Mauricie region of Quebec, Canada. We also determined if this species used habitats according to availability within a home range and identified habitat features influencing habitat selection. Habitats were characterized for 20 wood turtles followed weekly by telemetry during the active season of 1997. Turtles used a great diversity of terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Alder (Alnus rugosa (Du Roi) Spreng.) stands were the most used terrestrial habitats throughout the active season. Habitat use varied according to activity period. Indeed, wood turtles used aquatic habitats and alder stands during prenesting and prehibernation activity periods, whereas all habitat types were used during nesting and postnesting activity periods. Wood turtles did not use habitats randomly within their home ranges, suggesting that they selected them. Wood turtles seemed to select mixed forest stands that were relatively young (16 years), short (1–4 m), had low arborescent cover (25%), moderate cover of the upper shrub layer (35%), and low total canopy closure (0%–50%). This knowledge will be helpful in the establishment of future conservation measures.

Declining Populations of Yellow Mud Turtles(Kinosternon flavescens)in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri

“…This corresponds with several other studies documenting aquatic turtle usage in active and abandoned gravel pits (e.g., Corn and Hendricks 1998;Arvisais et al 2004;Walde et al 2007). However, our observations suggest that abandoned gravel and sand pits, while supporting some aquatic turtles, did not benefit yellow mud turtles at this extreme of their range.…”

Intra-specific niche partitioning obscures the importance of fine-scale habitat data in species distribution models

“…Turtles may use alder swales because they typically border streams and rivers (Quinn and Tate 1991;Walde et al 2007), or because they provide important food items such as slugs, earthworms, and herbaceous vegetation (Compton et al 2002;Arvisais et al 2004).…”

“…The wood turtle is an omnivorous generalist that inhabits a variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitats including wetlands, forests, meadows, clear-cuts and agricultural fields; however, rivers and streams typically serve as the core habitat for wood turtle populations (Kaufmann 1992;Compton et al 2002;Arvisais et al 2004;Saumure et al 2007;Greaves 2007). At the northern limit of the species' range, wood turtles spend nearly half of the year over-wintering on the bottoms of streams and rivers (Greaves 2007).…”

“…Furthermore, using a sin or cosine transformation reduced model fit when compared to a linear function. Two-way interaction terms between time of year and the presence of earthworms (Wrm) and speckled alder (Ald) were also included in models for females based on field observations and the results of previous studies (Arvisais et al 2004).…”

Spatial and Temporal Habitat-Use Patterns of Wood Turtles at the Western Edge of Their Distribution

“…They appear to select relatively open habitats (Compton et al 2002, Arvisais et al 2004). The habitat selected in one area in Quebec consisted of young mixed forest stands (16 years old), with moderate shrub cover (35%) and a total canopy closure of 0 percent to 50 percent (Arvisais et al 2004). …”