Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene Carolina Carolina) Movements in a Fragmented Landscape

Abstract

In the mid-Atlantic region, agriculture and development have resulted in habitat fragmentation; however, the effect on Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) movement remains undetermined. Understanding how box turtles move in fragmented landscapes can be used to elucidate the impacts of forest fragmentation on box turtle ecology. We chose four study areas that differed in degree of fragmentation ranging from isolated forest fragments to an interior forest to investigate the effect of sex, season, and study area on turtle movements. We randomly selected five radio-tagged turtles per week per study area and attached thread trailers to measure their daily movements. Sex×season×study area and season×study area did not interact to affect turtle movements. However, sex×study area and sex×season interacted to affect turtle movements. Box Turtles in isolated areas moved less than those in more continuous habitat, and turtle movements varied among seasons. Differences in movement may be related to sex-specific life history traits such as mate searching in males and nesting followed by energy conservation in females.