Turtle Pop

Freshwater turtles are among the most endangered vertebrates worldwide. Turtle populations vary in population density and sex ratio and many have skewed sex ratios, which can compromise population viability. In the EREN Turtle Pop Project (2.0), we survey painted turtle populations throughout their range in Eastern North America. The original EREN TurtlePop Project (1.0) made an important contribution by leveraging the EREN network to surmount spatial restrictions of prior research on this topic, but the authors identified limitations including potential spatial non-independence due to clustering of ponds in certain geographic areas and generally low sampling effort. In TurtlePop 2.0, we modified our approach and protocols based on the lessons from TurtlePop 1.0. With increased trapping effort and a paired 'urban'-'rural' ponds design, we are trapping and marking painted turtles (and co-occurring freshwater turtles) to better understand the factors that influence population structure.