Efficacy of GPS-based satellite transmitters to monitor movement and nesting of alligator snapping turtles, Macrochelys temminckii (Troost, 1835)

Abstract

The Alligator Snapping Turtle, Macrochelys temminckii (Troost, 1835), historically occurred widely across the southeastern United States, inhabiting river systems draining into the Gulf of Mexico from as far north as Illinois and from western Florida to eastern Texas (Dobie, 1971; Pritchard, 1989; Ernst and Lovich, 2009). With a life-history characterised by delayed sexual maturity, high adult survivorship, and low juvenile survivorship, population persistence is largely reliant on adult survival (Dobie, 1971; Moore et al., 2013; Folt et al., 2016). Commercial harvesting in the 1960’s and 1970’s is purported to have resulted in substantial population declines across the species range and has since led to the enacting of regulatory measures to protect these populations (e.g., prohibiting commercial harvesting, regulating recreational harvest; Shipman et al., 1995; Jensen and Birkhead, 2003; Shipman and Riedle, 2008; Kessler et al., 2017; Huntzinger et al., 2019, 2020). Contemporary threats (i.e., habitat loss, hook ingestion or incidental bycatch, and illegal take) continue to threaten the species (Gibbons, 2006; Holcomb and Carr, 2013; Steen and Robinson, 2017; Shook et al., 2023; Christensen et al., 2024). As a result, M. temminckii is now proposed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (USFWS, 2021; Christensen et al., 2024).

Citation

Schalk, Christopher M.; Glasscock, Jessica L.; Brownjohn, Tristan; Edwards, Jonathan; Adams, Connor S. 2025. Efficacy of GPS-based satellite transmitters to monitor movement and nesting of alligator snapping turtles, Macrochelys temminckii (Troost, 1835). Herpetology Notes. 18: 953-961.