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NATURAL HISTORY of a POPULATION of WOOD TURTLES (GLYPTEMYS INSCULPTA) in WEST VIRGINIA Jessica Curtis [email protected]

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NATURAL HISTORY of a POPULATION of WOOD TURTLES (GLYPTEMYS INSCULPTA) in WEST VIRGINIA Jessica Curtis Curtis30@Marshall.Edu Marshall Digital Scholar Theses, Dissertations and Capstones 2014 NATURAL HISTORY OF A POPULATION OF WOOD TURTLES (GLYPTEMYS INSCULPTA) IN WEST VIRGINIA Jessica Curtis [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://mds.marshall.edu/etd Part of the Animal Sciences Commons, and the Population Biology Commons Recommended Citation Curtis, Jessica, "NATURAL HISTORY OF A POPULATION OF WOOD TURTLES (GLYPTEMYS INSCULPTA) IN WEST VIRGINIA" (2014). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. Paper 870. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Marshall Digital Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Marshall Digital Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NATURAL HISTORY OF A POPULATION OF WOOD TURTLES (GLYPTEMYS INSCULPTA) IN WEST VIRGINIA A thesis submitted to The Graduate College of Marshall University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biological Sciences by Jessica Curtis Approved by Thomas Pauley, Committee Chairperson Jeffrey May Frank Gilliam Marshall University December 2014 ©2014 Jessica Curtis ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I’d like to thank my ridiculous dog, Pookie, who has been dragged out to look for turtles more times than she’d like to admit in polite company. She willingly (dare I say, gladly) followed me around for kilometers on tiny legs, forded cold streams, withstood clouds of biting flies, deftly skirted the occasional snake and rarely cried about it. I only begrudge her the fact that she never learned to actually find the turtles for me. Next, I’d like to thank all the field help that made long and sweaty days tromping through the woods more fun: Sara Davis, Sonny (the dog), Stephen Curtis, Jennifer Macdonald, Suzanne Curtis, Kaylin Curtis, and Christopher Curtis. If you told me there was a Zen Buddhist who can withstand more suffering with epic grace than Dr. Peter Vila of Shepherd University, I’d call you a liar. Dr. Vila helped me start my work with Wood Turtles way back in 2010, and I owe him (and his high tolerance to shenanigans) a huge debt of gratitude. To the strange and sordid lot I met in grad school, I have one thing to say to you “dattebayo.” I’d like to thank Dr. Pauley for kindly allowing me near his lab and person. He listened to me talk iii about nonsensical things and somehow didn’t kill himself or me (which is a commendable achievement). I’d also like to thank the other members of my committee Dr. Gilliam and Dr. May who, I’m sure, didn’t entirely know what they signed up for when they agreed to be on my committee. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................................ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS............................................................................................................................... v LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................... viii ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1 Species Account................................................................................................................................... 1 Objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 11 CHAPTER 2: METHODS .......................................................................................................................... 12 Study Site .......................................................................................................................................... 12 Capture and Treatment ..................................................................................................................... 13 Software Assisted Identification......................................................................................................... 21 Statistical Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 21 Ethics Statement and Permitting ....................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 3: CAPTURE SUCCESS ............................................................................................................. 23 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 23 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER 4: MORPHOMETRICS ............................................................................................................. 29 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 29 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 32 CHAPTER 5: GROWTH ........................................................................................................................... 35 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 35 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 38 CHAPTER 6: INJURIES, DEFORMITIES, AND ECTOPARASITES ................................................................ 42 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 42 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 7: DEMOGRAPHY, POPULATION, AND DENSITY .................................................................... 51 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 51 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 51 v CHAPTER 8: NOTES ON BEHAVIOR AND HABITAT USE .......................................................................... 55 Behavior ............................................................................................................................................ 55 Habitat Use........................................................................................................................................ 61 CHAPTER 9: SOFTWARE-ASSISTED IDENTIFICATION.............................................................................. 63 Results ............................................................................................................................................... 63 Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 9: SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 66 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................................................ 68 APPENDICES: ......................................................................................................................................... 76 APPENDIX A: METHODS SUPPLEMENTS ............................................................................................ 76 Photographs of Morphometric Measurements .............................................................................. 76 Description of Habitats .................................................................................................................. 81 APPENDIX B: MORPHOMETRIC SUPPLEMENTS ................................................................................... 82 APPENDIX C: GROWTH SUPPLEMENTS ............................................................................................... 84 APPENDIX D: HABITAT USE SUPPLEMENTS ......................................................................................... 85 APPENDIX E: OTHER SPECIES FOUND ................................................................................................. 87 APPENDIX F: IRB APPROVAL LETTER ................................................................................................... 88 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1. Glyptemys insculpta captures separated by gender. .............................................................. 24 Table 4.1. Adult male Glyptemys insculpta weights and lengths. (n = 18) ............................................... 30
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