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Basking Habitat Characteristics of Blanding's Turtles in Natural And

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Basking Habitat Characteristics of Blanding's Turtles in Natural And Basking Habitat Characteristics of Blanding’s Turtles in Natural and Constructed Wetlands in Southeastern New York Tanessa Hartwig, Erik Kiviat, and Gretchen Stevens Hudsonia Ltd., Annandale, NY Presentation 2008 Tanessa Hartwig Emys blandingii : NYS Threatened Species Threats in Dutchess County, NY: • roads, construction, farm equipment • habitat degradation and loss • landscape fragmentation and sprawl • subsidized predators • collecting BlandingBlanding ’’ss TurtleTurtle HabitatsHabitats inin DutchessDutchess CountyCounty Core Wetland Habitat: Deep-flooding shrub swamps with organic soil, near gravelly glacial outwash Associated Wetland Habitats: Drought Refuge: Vernal (woodland) pools, flooded swamps, Spring-fed natural or artificial ponds, or beaver ponds, other flooded wetlands deep pools in wetlands Estivation Habitat: Wetland sediments, upland woods under logs or in shrub thickets, stream pools ConstructedConstructed Habitats,Habitats, 19961996 --19971997 Moving Wetland Sods Loading sods on truck Spatula for cutting sods Sods and organic soil Placing sods in basin Inspiration for sod technique: Munro Ecological Services MethodsMethods • Turtle-centered plots May to September, 2000-2002, in constructed and natural wetlands • Turtles trapped and radios attached; turtles radiotracked to exact location • Vegetation, water temperature, and water depth recorded in a 3 x 3 m plot centered on the turtle • Vegetation surveyed in permanent random 3 x 3 m plots each September GeneralGeneral AssociationsAssociations • Shallow water depths (mean = 30 cm) • Abundant vegetation (total cover mean = 87%) • Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis ) (mean = 30%) • “Edges” between emergent vegetation and moats Natural/ConstructedNatural/Constructed • Turtles positively Total Cover 2002 Means R Nat = 107% associated with high total 60 R Con = 117% cover in natural wetlands, 40 20 Total Cover 2002 but negatively associated 0 with total cover in -20 T Nat = 90% constructed wetlands -40 Random Turtle Centered T Con = 54% Confidence intervals on the differences in means between natural and constructed wetlands. WaterWater TemperaturesTemperatures Turtles found in warmer water in constructed wetlands than in natural wetlands (t-value = 3.76; P ☯ 0.001). 32 30 28 26 24 22 wetlands Constructed wetlands Natural 20 18 16 14 12 10 Water Temperature, Degrees Celsius 8 6 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 Julian Date 2002 180 160 BaskingBasking PatternsPatterns 140 120 • Logs in the early morning; 100 floating plant materials (algae, 80 duckweeds, etc.) by late 60 morning 40 Percent cover coarse woody debris woody Percent coarse cover 20 • Conserving energy by 0 7:12 9:36 12:00 14:24 16:48 19:12 21:36 basking and foraging Time 180 simultaneously 160 140 120 Constructed wetlands Constructed Naturalwetlands 100 80 60 Percent neuston cover 40 20 0 7:12 9:36 12:00 14:24 16:48 19:12 21:36 Time SubmergedSubmerged VegetationVegetation 160 140 120 100 Constructed wetlands Constructed wetlands Natural 80 60 40 Percent cover submerged vegetation 20 0 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 Julian date 2002 Provides: food resources, warmer microclimate, cover from predators. Algae Cover 2002 Means 20 R Nat = 0% 15 R Con = 0% 10 Algae Cover 2002 • Turtles positively 5 T Nat = 13% associated with 0 T Con = 4% filamentous algae in the Random Turtle-centered natural wetlands and with water celery in the Water Celery Cover 2002 constructed wetlands Means 0 1 2 R Nat = 0% -5 R Con = 0% -10 Water Celery -15 Cover 2002 -20 T Nat = 0% T Con = 12% -25 Females used the constructed wetlands more often than males. (2001 χ2 = 15.13, df = 1, P ≤ 0.001; 2002 χ2 = 88.14, df = 1, P ≤ 0.001). Yr Wetland type No. of F No. of M F:M observations observations 2000 Both 467 100 4.7:1 2000 Natural 297 68 4.4:1 2000 Constructed 170 32 5.3:1 2001 Both 633 330 1.9:1 2001 Natural 479 285 1.7:1 2001 Constructed 154 45 3.4:1 2002 Both 727 524 1.4:1 2002 Natural 490 472 1.0:1 2002 Constructed 237 52 4.6:1 Total turtle observations natural (2000-2002) 2091 Total turtle observations constructed (2000- 690 2002) ConclusionsConclusions • Constructed wetlands provided basking and foraging habitat in the spring and early summer, and staging or rehydrating areas for nesting females. • Basking habitat should include shallow water areas with submerged and floating vegetation, interspersed with emergent vegetation and basking substrates such as logs. • Some basking habitat should be near nesting areas. Tanessa Hartwig Assistant Director, Conservation Ecology of Habitats and Species Hudsonia Ltd. P.O. Box 5000 Annandale, NY 12504 (845) 758-7274 [email protected] www.hudsonia.org Acknowledgments Hudsonia Ltd. Field workers : Heidi Bock, Dan Goodfriend, Krista Munger Funders: AmeriCorps, Arlington Central School District, ENSR, Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation, Guinness Water of Life, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation, Society for Ecological Restoration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Collaborators: AmeriCorps; Arlington Central School District, consultants and contractors; Creative Habitat; New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, & Historic Preservation Photo credits: Tanessa Hartwig, Erik Kiviat, Andy Reinmann, Gretchen Stevens, Carolyn Summers.
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