Date of Graduation
Fall 2024
Degree
Master of Science in Biology
Department
Biology
Committee Chair
Day Ligon
Abstract
Reintroductions have increasingly become a useful tool for managing wildlife populations, but post-reintroduction studies to evaluate the success of these efforts are often lacking. In 2007, 265 Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) were released into several semi-impounded wetlands in the Washita River drainage basin in southeastern Oklahoma, where surveys in the late 1990s suggested that the species was functionally extirpated. I conducted turtle trapping surveys using baited hoop nets to assess demographics and recruitment patterns in the population 11–12 years after the initial reintroduction. I estimated the age of juveniles by counting scute annuli and compared the data to previous records of turtles of known age for validation of the technique. I analyzed fecal materials to determine the dietary niche the species is occupying within the study system and compared it to published results from other populations. The diet data suggest that these turtles are functioning chiefly as benthic detritivores, indicating that individuals in my study population have a seemingly greater reliance on indiscriminate foraging than reported from other populations. I captured 75 M. temminckii, including 11 juveniles from naturally occurring nests that were hatched in captivity and subsequently released, and 15 juveniles I inferred hatched in situ. These data indicate at least limited successful reproduction by adults and survival of juveniles in the study population, despite evidence of high rates of depredation of naturally occurring nests in the study area.
Keywords
Alligator Snapping Turtle, Macrochelys temminckii, demographics, recruitment, reintroduction, scute annuli, diet, Oklahoma
Subject Categories
Biology | Population Biology | Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Copyright
© Melisa P. Blasky
Recommended Citation
Blasky, Melisa P., "Demographics and Recruitment Patterns in a Reintroduced Population of Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys Temminckii)" (2024). MSU Graduate Theses/Dissertations. 4033.
https://bearworks.missouristate.edu/theses/4033
Open Access