The Effects of Flooding on the Spatial Ecology of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata) in a Partially Mined Peatland

Yagi, Katharine T.; Litzgus, Jacqueline D.

doi:10.1643/ce-11-106

Cited by 15 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Moreover, turtles focused activity areas closer to isolated wetlands at 60 m, corroborating the importance of a diverse suite of aquatic habitat types in forests for herpetofauna (Gibbs , Werner et al. , Yagi and Litzgus ). Radiomarked turtles exhibited behavioral plasticity and exploited shallow aquatic environments with frequent movements upland to flooded plantations following heavy rains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Our results agree with our predictions that the ditch network, rather than more natural ephemeral habitat types, was the center of activity for movements and selection of the spotted turtles we marked. Although spotted turtles have been well‐studied in wetland‐dominated ecosystems with little habitat alteration, populations in reconfigured landscapes have not been studied extensively (but see Yagi and Litzgus ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Spotted turtles selected ditches across multiple spatial grains despite available and abundant ephemeral depressions and other more natural aquatic habitat types, suggesting their ability to exploit novel habitats may have been under‐appreciated. Similarly, spotted turtles in a partially drained peat mine in Ontario extensively used drainage ditches, but opportunistically moved to flooded uplands when available (Yagi and Litzgus ). However, we note that our radiomarked turtles were initially captured in roadside ditches, and snapping turtles ( Chelydra serpentina ) can exhibit individual specialization on habitat types (Paterson et al.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…) so that other spotted turtles in our study area could have focused on non‐ditch habitat types. Given heterogeneity in habitat structure, spotted turtles typically use slow‐moving permanent or ephemeral aquatic sites (Seburn , Yagi and Litzgus ), but move upland for nesting, estivation, or when traversing to another aquatic feature (Beaudry et al. ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Novel habitat use supports population maintenance in a reconfigured landscape

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Given the limited scope of unaltered, protected areas in most regions, understanding the contributions to imperiled species conservation by landscapes in which habitat elements have been reconfigured is critical. Commercial forestry has been a driver of altered structure and composition of forests and of distribution and character of aquatic systems. In eastern North America, extensive historical wetland drainage reconfigured hydrologic environments from low-gradient wet flats and isolated wetlands to connected networks of linear ditches. Landscapes where both uplands and aquatic environments differ from historic conditions may affect most ecological aspects of semi-aquatic species, including reptiles. Our objective was to determine if habitat selection and use decisions by spotted turtles (Clemmys guttata), a rare semi-aquatic species, supported population maintenance in a reconfigured forest landscape in eastern North Carolina, USA. We captured 280 individuals and radiomarked 31 adults to examine habitat selection at multiple spatial scales with paired logistic regression, movements and home ranges with location data and utilization distributions (UDs), survival with a known-fate model, and abundance with N-mixture modeling. Across local and landscape scales, turtles selected features associated with ditches despite abundant, more natural aquatic depressions across the study area. Habitat metrics describing understory closure and substrate characteristics were important at local scales, and closed canopy forest and habitat heterogeneity was positively associated with activity areas at landscape-scale spatial grains. Both movements and home ranges were centered on ditches, and turtles exploited ditches to access mates, nest sites, or uplands for estivation. In this highly reconfigured landscape, this species appeared to have sufficient behavioral plasticity to acquire key resources contributing to high survival and an abundant population. Isolation from road traffic and collection, both which negatively affect turtles elsewhere, was facilitated by limited public access. Our results suggest that conservation and management of rare species should not rely solely on habitat information gained from studies in more pristine areas because such results may not demonstrate the range in variation in behavior that might allow persistence in novel environments, absent key threats.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Novel habitat use supports population maintenance in a reconfigured landscape

et al. 2016

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“…2). When peat mining ceased in the 1990s, increases in internal drain water levels occurred because of intrinsic and extrinsic factors including vegetation growth, sediment accumulations, woody debris, constructed peat dams, Beaver (Castor canadensis) dams (Yagi and Litzgus, 2012;Browning, 2015), and stochastic wet weather events (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2016). The wetland is isolated by surrounding agricultural, industrial, and rural land use and is more than 200 km from other Massasauga populations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%