Turtle Population Declines Turtle Research, Education, and Conservation Program Turtles are a remarkable group of animals. They ve existed on earth for over 200 million years; that s close to 100 times longer than people have been around! Unfortunately, turtle populations are experiencing population declines worldwide. There are nine species of freshwater turtles that occur in Canada and all nine of them are considered to be species at risk of extinction in at least parts of their range. A number of factors are responsible for turtle population declines, including: 1) habitat loss, 2) road mortality, 3) collection, 4) accidents from boat propellers and fishing, 5) overabundant predator populations (e.g., raccoons), 5) contaminants, 6) interactions with exotic species, and more. Turtles are more sensitive to declines than many other species because of their life history characteristics: they are long-lived and late to mature. For example, snapping turtles can live to be 100 years old and don t start reproducing until they re approximately 20 years old. Many animals prey on turtle eggs and hatchings, but adult turtles have few predators and are supposed to have extremely high survivorship. Anything that increases mortality rates to adult turtles can have significant impacts on turtle populations. For example, research has shown that just one adult turtle lost from a population every few years (e.g., from road mortality or collection) could be enough to cause the population to go extinct in some areas. Figure 1. Wood Turtle, a Threatened species (COSEWIC status).
Figure 2. Snapping Turtle, a species of Special Concern (COSEWIC status). Figure 3. Painted Turtle.
Turtles at Rockwood Park In the summer of 2014 we began turtle research at Rockwood Park to find out what species are present and which ponds/lakes they occur in. We have asked and are still asking the public to submit information on turtle sightings in the park to the Park Naturalist (Phone: 658-2829, Email: connie.browne@saintjohn.ca). Three turtle species are native to New Brunswick: the wood turtle, snapping turtle, and painted turtle. So far we ve confirmed the presence of all three native species in the park from photos submitted by visitors, but we still don t have enough data to know whether populations exist here for any of these species, or whether these observations were all of individuals that have been released by various people. A serious threat to turtle populations in New Brunswick is that people will often pick up wild turtles when they find them and release them somewhere else. Turtles have specific habitat requirements for hibernation and nesting, and often the release site does not meet their needs, so these turtles are effectively lost from the breeding population. We are also conducting a small trapping study to try to determine relative abundance in some areas of the park. We haven t caught any native species in our traps yet, so this indicates that turtles are not abundant in the areas that we ve trapped so far. However, we have caught two red-eared sliders an exotic species of turtle that is native to southeastern US. This species cannot breed in our cold Canadian climate, so these individuals must have been released pets. Exotic pet turtles are a threat to our native populations because they could be carrying diseases which could be transmitted to the native population. We removed these individuals and are currently holding them at the Interpretation Center in Rockwood Park until we can find good homes for them. Figure 4. Shelly a red-eared slider caught in Rockwood Park on 17 July 2014.
Figure 5. Orleans a red-eared slider caught in Rockwood Park on 22 July 2014. We will be continuing our research in new areas within the park in the upcoming weeks, and analyzing the data and presenting the results this fall.
Tips to Help Turtles 1) Protect Habitat. Turtles need a combination of aquatic and terrestrial habitat for foraging, basking, nesting, and hibernation. 2) Take Pictures, not Turtles. If you observe a turtle in a safe place, take a picture of the turtle and report your sighting, but please don t disturb the turtle. Even very small numbers of individuals removed from a population could cause the population to crash. Hunting of snapping turtles used to be allowed, but it is no longer permitted because research shows that populations cannot handle harvesting and turtles are not a safe food source. Turtles are long-lived and fairly high up on the food chain, so they tend to have high levels of contaminants. It is illegal to catch turtles in New Brunswick without proper permits. 3) Help Turtles Cross Roads. If you see a turtle crossing a road, stop and pick up the turtle and move it across the road to the side that it was heading to. If it s a snapping turtle, and you are not familiar with proper handling techniques, it s probably best to just stop traffic until the turtle finishes crossing because they do have a powerful bite. 4) Don t Feed Wildlife. Feeding wildlife can cause unnaturally high population densities of predators, such as raccoons, which can put increased pressure on turtle populations because turtle eggs are favored food source. 5) Don t Release Pet Turtles. Pet turtles could be carrying diseases which could be transmitted to native populations. Educational Programs We will be offering a Turtle Research and Conservation Program from July 2014 to May 2015. To book a time for your group, contact Dr. Connie Browne, Park Naturalist (Phone: 658-2829, Email: connie.browne@saintjohn.ca).