Sampling freshwater turtle populations using hoop nets: Testing potential biases

Abstract

ABSTRACT The baited hoop‐net is one of the most heavily used sampling tools for monitoring freshwater turtle populations. In the past several years, we have published a series of studies that tested potential biases associated with this sampling method. For this paper, we used a new experiment to directly test the influence of trap‐mouth opening size on both captures and escapes. We also summarized the results from previous studies to direct future research on this topic and provide a useful guide for managers and researchers using this sampling device. In our experiment during May 2013 in Texas, USA, we found that traps with larger mouth‐openings were more efficient at capturing turtles, while escapes were minimal for both mouth sizes. Thus, at least within the boundaries we tested here, increasing mouth‐opening size is an effective way to increase captures without introducing biases caused by differential escape probabilities. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.