Ecology and Conservation of Davidson's Box Turtles
Robert T. Stone Fund
Pierson Hill
Davidson College
My name is Pierson Hill and I am currently a freshman here at Davidson College.
I have had a lifelong passion for reptiles, so naturally I am a member of the
Davidson College Herpetology Laboratory, which is sponsored by Dr. Michael Dorcas.
The Herp Lab is a small group of students that conducts research and field studies
on the reptiles and amphibians of the Davidson area.
One of our largest projects is a conservation study of the Eastern Box Turtle. It has been underway for several years and is projected to last for several more. It not only involves student participation, but also community participation by encouraging citizens in the surrounding area to bring box turtles in for use in our study. The study promises to offer a wealth of information on the effects of urbanization and habitat fragmentation on the local turtle populations. Hopefully, this information will be used for the conservation of imperiled turtle populations in the future.
Each Box Turtle found is given its own unique markings for future identification. Measurements are taken and the locations of capture are recorded in a database. Turtles are often recaptured and the locations of these recaptures give us a hint as to how box turtles move over the span of several months. Until recently, Box Turtles in the Davidson College Ecological Preserve have been collected and re-collected by walking through habitat and relying on chance encounters with the turtles.
This spring, the Herp Lab will be employing radio telemetry to track individual turtles that have been fitted with transmitters. Radio telemetry allows us to actively monitor turtle movement over the span of several days rather than spans of months and years associated with manual recapture. This will allow us to more accurately determine habitat preferences and daily movements of turtles.
My involvement in the project intensifies this spring. I will be radio tracking box turtles several times per week during my free time. This involves going out into the field for several hours and recording where and when I find each turtle. We hope to eventually have a dozen or more turtles fitted with transmitters.
To accurately assess seasonal variation in movement, radio tracking will be continued into the summer. I will be traveling to Davidson from my home in Florida to continue the study. I will be here from July 9 through July 21 and radio tracking turtles on a daily basis for about six hours a day. This is where the Stone Fund will be used.