Meeting Abstract

P1.29  Friday, Jan. 4  Habitat Use and Population Demographics of Two Aquatic Turtle Species in a Temperate Forest Lake SNYDER, T.J.*; DOLCEMASCOLO, P.; ARAYA-JARA, L.V. ; HAZARD, L.; MONSEN, K.J.; Montclair State University; Montclair State University; Montclair State University; Montclair State University; Montclair State University snydert3@mail.montclair.edu

We studied syntopic populations of common musk turtle (Sternotherus odoratus) and eastern painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) in Lake Wapalanne, a 5.67 ha lentic ecosystem at the New Jersey School of Conservation (Sussex Co., New Jersey). The turtles were caught by hand netting, hoop traps, and basking traps in 2011 and 2012; 68 S. odoratus and 155 C. picta individuals were measured and permanently marked. S. odoratus were found near large cover objects along the edge of the lake. C. picta was distributed equally throughout the habitat. Sexual dimorphism was only prevalent in C. picta, in which females were larger than males. Sex ratio of C. picta was slightly male biased, and was equal for S. odoratus. We found that 97.1% of the S. odoratus and 91.6% of the C. picta individuals were adults, which could represent lack of juvenile recruitment or trapping bias. We also measured levels of leech parasitism, injuries and other abnormalities, and carapacial algae load for both species. Results differed from those expected based on available data for comparable populations and will be further investigated through long-term monitoring.