Space-use patterns of Spotted Turtles occupying two wetland types in West Virginia

Abstract

Understanding space-use dynamics of wildlife populations is important for informing habitat management and restoration initiatives. In West Virginia, Clemmys guttata (Spotted Turtle) is restricted to the eastern panhandle region and is considered a species of greatest conservation need. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources is interested in managing and restoring Spotted Turtle habitat, but information on space use is limited. To address this information gap, we used radiotelemetry to track space-use patterns of 9 Spotted Turtles at 2 sites that represent different wetland types in the state from spring 2018 to fall 2020. One site was a wetland complex containing ~13.19 ha of potential habitat, and the other site was a single isolated wetland containing ~2.09 ha of potential habitat. Spotted Turtle home-range size and use of potential habitat varied between the sites, with larger home-range sizes and a larger proportion of habitat used at the wetland complex site. Our results represent the first home-range size estimates reported for Spotted Turtle populations in West Virginia and suggest that space-use dynamics may be variable and dependent on site-level wetland characteristics.

Citation

Oxenrider, Kevin J.; Brown, Donald J. 2024. Space-use patterns of Spotted Turtles occupying two wetland types in West Virginia. Northeastern Naturalist. 31(sp12): C17-C26. https://doi.org/10.1656/045.031.s1209.