Meeting Abstract
Different populations of wide-ranging species may respond to geographic variation in local climate in various ways. For these species, better understanding of how separate populations respond to environmental variation throughout the range may be required to predict species-level responses to climate change. We measured nest microhabitat to examine the effects of temperature on embryos of the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) from a relatively understudied population in the northwestern part of its range. Compared to other geographic locations of the painted turtle range, this northwestern climate was expected to be cooler and wetter. However, we found thermal nest profiles to be comparable to other parts of the species’ range, experiencing similar mean, minimum, and maximum temperatures. A wider range in mean daily temperature range was observed among nests when measuring daily extremes. Curiously, the frequency of external abnormalities was higher than reported for hatchling painted turtles from nests in populations elsewhere in the range. Overall, we show developing embryos of a northwestern population of painted turtles experience thermal conditions similar to other geographically distinct populations and that this population may have higher intrinsically induced abnormalities.
