Literaturdatenbank
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Farnsworth, S. D., & Seigel, R. A. , Good fences make for good relocations: A comparison of on-site versus off-site relocations for eastern box turtles (terrapene carolina) - abstract. Unpublished paper presented at Program and Abstracts of the Tenth Annual Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles.
Added by: Admin (06 Jan 2014 18:22:47 UTC) |
| Resource type: Conference Paper BibTeX citation key: Farnsworth2012 View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Emydidae, Habitat - habitat, Nordamerika - North America, Schildkröten - turtles + tortoises, Terrapene carolina Creators: Farnsworth, Seigel Collection: Program and Abstracts of the Tenth Annual Symposium on the Conservation and Biology of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles |
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| Abstract |
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We compared the success of on-site versus off-site relocations as a means of mitigating the impacts of the construction of a major highway (InterCounty Connector ) on Eastern Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina) in Maryland, USA. On-site relocations, where animals are moved to areas immediately adjacent to construction activities but are kept safe via an exclusion fence, may have significant advantages over off-site relocations, which have at best, a modest success rate for many species of turtles. We compared the movement patterns, home range size, and survival of Box Turtles from three treatment groups between 2008–2011; turtles native to North Branch Rock Creek Park (NBRC) and not moved during the study (native turtles), turtles native to NBRC, but which were moved from the limit of disturbance of the ICC (on-site relocation), and turtles not native to NBRC, which were relocated onto the site (off-site relocation). Turtles in the off-site relocation group had larger home ranges and moved longer distances than either on-site or native turtles. However, unlike other studies, off-site relocated turtles did not make movements off of the study area nor did they have difficulty finding suitable sites for overwintering. We also found no significant differences in survival among our treatment groups. However, overall survival rates were <65% over the three years of our study, which is considerably lower than rates seen in other Box Turtle populations. This can be largely attributed to the effects of Ranavirus, which caused numerous mortalities from 2009– 2011. The source of this disease outbreak is unknown, as are the long-term consequences. The impacts of Ranavirus notwithstanding, on-site relocations in this study showed promising results. However, the need for more effective wildlife fences to be constructed and maintained earlier in the construction timeline was obvious in our study. The failure to create and maintain such a barrier led to numerous “trespass” events, where turtles moved onto the construction site and would likely have been killed without our intervention. Thus, the short-term nature of our data, coupled with the unexpected impacts of Ranavirus, show the need for longer-term studies of the effectiveness of on-site relocations.
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