Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata AgassizLegler, John M.
Science
Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz
Legler, John M.
Ornate box turtle
The 194 box turtles that were marked at the Damm Farm were captured a
total of 437 times. Seventy-nine (41 per cent) individuals were
recaptured at least once, 49 (25 per cent) twice, 29 (15 per cent)
three times, and 20 (10 per cent) were recaptured at least four times.
Only three individuals were recaptured more than eight times. The
greatest number of recaptures for a single individual, an old female,
was 23.
In all, 185 turtles (95 per cent of total recorded at Damm Farm) were
captured on the pasture. Of these, 73 were in the northwest corner
area, 44 in the house pond area, and 35 in the southern ravine area.
The density of the population at the Damm Farm, considering the entire
area, was .88 turtles per acre; for the woodland area alone, density
was .41 turtles per acre and for the pasture alone, density was 1.49.
Acreage and population density in the northwest corner, house pond,
and southern ravine areas were respectively, 28 acres with 2.6 turtles
per acre, 7 acres with 6.3 turtles per acre, and, 17 acres with 2.6
turtles per acre. The densities noted above for the wooded area and
for the entire Damm Farm are low as a result of incomplete sampling in
the wooded area. Estimates of population density for the subdivisions
of the pasture seem more closely to approach the true population
density in areas of favorable habitat.
Fewer unmarked turtles were captured as the study progressed, but they
were still being captured occasionally when field work was terminated.
In order to estimate the number of turtles in the population at the
Damm Farm the "Lincoln Index" (Lincoln, 1930) was used to compare the
ratio of marked individuals to total number of individuals (17:56) in
collections for June, 1956, to the ratio of marked individuals as of
July 31, 1955 (87) to total individuals in the population; the result
was 286.
Fitch (1958:78) estimated the population of _T. ornata_ in one area of
the Reservation (including woodland and ungrazed pasture) to be .076
turtles per acre. Stickel (1950:373) estimated the population of adult
_T. carolina_ to be four to five turtles per acre in favorable habitat
at the Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel, Maryland; juveniles comprised
less than ten per cent of the population.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account