Effects of Landscape Context on Painted Turtle Population Structure in Northern New York

Abstract

Painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) are a widely distributed freshwater turtle common in northern New York wetlands. Turtles provide ecosystem services that include redistributing nutrients, dispersing seeds, serving as prey to predators, and modifying wetland habitat. With ongoing threats due to climate change, disease, and losses in wetland habitat, painted turtle population health can reflect ecosystem health. We aimed to evaluate demographic and microbiome trends among painted turtle populations along an urbanization gradient in northern New York. In fall 2022, we set 10 hoop traps for 3 consecutive days at both an urban (Barracks golf course), Plattsburgh, NY and rural (Lake Alice Wildlife Management Area, Chazy, NY site. Following established Ecological Research as Education (TurtlePop 2.0) protocols. Gender and age structure of each individual was determined and each was uniquely marked using carapace scute notching techniques. We also evaluated Salmonella sp. presence on turtle’s at each pond by collecting both carapace and cloacal swabs. Site-specific characteristics were also noted at each pond including abundance of basking sites, pond area, water and air temperatures, pH, and conductivity. The greater abundance of turtles at the urban site could be explained by the presence of plentiful basking logs. Contrary to our hypotheses both urban and rural sites are female and adult skewed, which could be explained by site-specific mesopredator guild differences. Morphologically there were no major size differences noted between the urban and rural populations. Additionally, there were no significant differences in water quality between the pond complexes. Painted turtle carapace and cloacal microbiomes were dominated by Pseudomonas sp. and no salmonella bacteria were detected via Sanger sequencing. More long-term research needs to be done in order to determine the effects of urbanization on painted turtle populations as our findings appear in line with findings of the EREN network, but contrary to those of the larger body of turtle conservation research.