Literaturdatenbank
Literaturdatenbank |
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Turner, W. M., & Nelson, D. H. (2000). Composition of the diet of the alabama redbelly turtle. Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science, Jan-April.
Added by: Admin (01 Aug 2010 18:22:07 UTC) |
| Resource type: Journal Article BibTeX citation key: Turner2000 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Ernährung = nutrition, Habitat = habitat, Nordamerika = North America, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises Creators: Nelson, Turner Collection: Journal of the Alabama Academy of Science |
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| URLs http://findarticle ... pril/ai_n28813007/ |
| Abstract |
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The Alabama Redbelly turtle is an endangered species endemic to the Mobile and Tensaw river systems. Stomach flushing was used to investigate the diet of these turtles. Eighty-three turtles from Gravine island (Baldwin county, Al) and five turtles from Weeks Bay (Baldwin county, Al) were captured from May 28th until October 15th of 1999 using aquatic hoop nets. Stomach flushing was attempted on all Alabama Redbelly turtles, and was successful 45% of the time (40 turtles). Seven of the turtles were sampled, released, recaptured and then sampled again. They were examined upon recapture and appeared to suffer no ill effects from the procedure. Samples were separated into species. The mass of each species was recorded in grams. The samples were then dried overnight at 120 C and weighed again. Non-native vegetation occurred most frequently (86%) in all samples and contributed the majority (94%) of the dry biomass. The most frequently encountered plant was Hydrilla verticillata, which occurred in 79% of the sample s. Hydrilla verticillata made up 86% (16.7 grams) of the total dry mass (19.9 grams) of the samples. Other plants found in the samples included Sagitarria Iancifolia. Heteranthera dubia, Myriophyllum spicatum, and Vallisneria americana. Although the diet was essential herbivorous, samples were also found to contain invertebrates. The most common invertebrates found were nematodes (9 specimens) and monogeneric trematodes (3 specimens). There were also remains of fiddler crabs in two samples.
Added by: Admin |