Loading...
Tee Time for Turtles? Community Differences Between the Barracks Golf Course and Point au Roche State Park
Journal Title
Readers/Advisors
Journal Title
Term and Year
Fall 2025
Publication Date
2025-12-11
Book Title
Publication Volume
Publication Issue
Publication Begin
Publication End
Number of pages
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Abstract
Painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) are important indicators of habitat quality, and play an important role in freshwater ecosystems. Urbanization impacts turtle populations via land-use changes, fragmentation, and habitat loss which alter freshwater turtle abundance and distribution. Sex ratio and age structure are key demographic parameters of population health. We aimed to compare painted turtle abundance and demographic patterns (e.g., age structure, sex ratio), as well as recapture rates at an urban versus rural wetland. Additionally, soundscape surveys were used to establish pond community diversity as a further indicator of urbanization impacts. In fall 2025, we performed mark-recapture of painted turtles using crab traps at an urban (Barracks golf course) and a rural (Point au Roche State Park) in Clinton County, NY. Following the Ecological Research as Education (EREN’s) TurtlePop 2.0 protocols, we live trapped turtles over a period of three weeks at each site and deployed autonomous recording devices (ARUs) to assess the diversity of avian communities. At each site, 10 hoop traps were used and animals were notched on perimeter scutes, while age structure and sex ratios were determined from body metrics. Site conditions were compared across ponds which included pond area, basking site availability, and water temperature. We also compared bird communities using BirdNet’s AI algorithm and the Sorensen Community Similarity Index.This fall, we captured 45 and 38 unique turtles at Point au Roche and the Barracks, respectively. There were significantly more juvenile turtles at the Barracks (26) than at Point au Roche (13), but not in sex ratios between sites. Point au Roche had significantly more male captures (20) than female (5), as well as recaptures. There was no difference in sex ratios between sites, at the Barracks, or a difference in age structure at Point au Roche. There were also no significant differences in any body dimensions for any cohorts between sites. Across the entire longitudinal study, there have been 122 turtle captures - 66 from the Barracks and 56 from Point au Roche. Painted turtle populations might be more abundant at the urban site due to the nature of the connected pond complex with increased heterogeneity as compared to Point au Roche’s single pond structure. Fewer juveniles at the Barracks could be explained by reduced predation risk due to higher anthropogenic activity, also reflective of bird community soundscapes. Sex ratio differences may be an artifact of small female sample sizes. Painted turtles are bioindicators of ecosystem health and greater protections can be made for turtles near heavily trafficked areas.