iphone version 2018 5th Annual Terrapin Tally This event is a fun and exciting way to spend time out on the water while contributing to scientific research. You will be helping the NC Coastal Reserve & National Estuarine Research Reserve and the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to estimate the population of Diamondback Terrapins within and around the Masonboro Island Reserve and Wrightsville Beach. There is little data available about the population of terrapins in North Carolina. It is important for the Reserve to determine how many Diamondback Terrapins are present in the marshes and waters of the Masonboro Island Reserve. The data you provide will be used to estimate terrapin populations and can be used to compare with data from other salt marshes along the coast and to track changes to the resident population over time. This packet will provide you with all the information you need to enjoy your time as a citizen scientist and to provide excellent data for our research. Simply follow the instructions and don t hesitate to call with any questions. Most importantly, enjoy the sunshine and the cool breeze off the water!
Welcome, Citizen Scientists! Thanks in advance for your interest in diamondback terrapins and in this growing project to engage volunteers as scientists to assist in collection of data about the diamondback terrapin populations within the Masonboro Island Reserve. Your participation in this project will not only help us better understand the local terrapin population it will help us determine whether these methods can be used on a broader scale to better understand this species throughout the state and region. We appreciate your willingness to participate and give your time to this project. We look forward to working with you to make this fourth Terrapin Tally a success! NC Coastal Reserve & NC WRC Staff 2
Background Diamondback Terrapins are found in salt marshes, estuaries, and mangrove swamps along the East and Gulf Coasts of the United States. These areas contain brackish water, a mixture of fresh and salt water, where the salinity is constantly changing due to rain, evaporation, fresh water input off the land and salt water input from the ocean tides. Diamondback terrapins are the only reptile in North America specially adapted to tolerate these salinity variations. They have both physiological and behavioral ways of dealing with these changes in salinity meaning that in some ways their bodies are able to adjust to the higher or lower salt level but in other ways, they have learned to change their behavior to help keep the salt level in their bodies within an acceptable range. Terrapins can live in water as salty as the ocean or as fresh as a river. Even though this would make it possible for them to inhabit a wide geographic area, they tend not to venture very far from their own home territories, possibly due to food supply. Terrapins feed on fish, snails, crabs, mollusks, clams and worms. They spend much of their time in the marsh, buried in the mud for protection and to maintain their body temperature. During high tide they are often more active, swimming through the creeks searching for food. They can also sometimes be seen basking on the banks of the creek, absorbing warmth from the sun. Terrapins prefer habitat with plentiful marsh and tidal waters In recent decades, human development in coastal areas has decreased the amount of marsh and creek habitat appropriate for terrapins, leaving less space than was historically available for them to thrive. Coastal development can also effect nesting female terrapins that attempt to cross roads in search of suitable nesting grounds. Crab pots can pose a threat to terrapins Although terrapins spend most of their time in water, they must breathe air, which leaves them vulnerable to commercial and private crab pots that can trap and hold them underwater, causing them to drown. In addition, just a century ago, terrapins were considered a delicacy food item. Their populations are believed to have been greatly impacted by over-harvesting. In some states it is still legal to harvest terrapins for food or for the pet trade. For these reasons, many coastal states, including North Carolina, have listed terrapins as a species of concern. They are also listed as a high priority species by the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. This means that more data is needed to understand whether they are at risk of becoming threatened, endangered, or extinct. Like all turtles, terrapins have a soft body between two hard shells. The top shell, or the carapace, is gray, light brown or black with dark circular or diamond-shaped markings which give them their name. Growth rings in these patterns can be used to estimate the turtle s age. The bottom shell is called the 3
Background (cont.) plastron, and it is yellowish to greenish gray. A terrapin s body and skin can be light gray, dark gray or black and are spotted or mottled, sometimes appearing polka dotted or even leopard spotted. Terrapins are sexually dimorphic, meaning males and females have different appearances. Males are much smaller than females, weighing in around 0.5 pound with a body length of 4-5, while females are about 1.5 pounds and 6-9 long. Males tend to have smaller heads and thicker tails than females, as well. Terrapins have a lifespan of 25-40 years. Males reach reproductive maturity sooner than females because they are smaller. Maturity age for males is typically 2-3 years, while females usually mature around 7 years. Mating season occurs in spring, with nesting season following in June and July each year. After mating in the water, females walk onto the land to find a suitable nesting location in the sandy shoreline of the marsh or in the dunes of the barrier island. High tide is ideal for nesting so that the eggs will be high enough on land to avoid flooding from future high tides. Females dig a 4-8 hole and drop 4-18 light pink eggs. The eggs are thin, leathery and oblong. They will hatch in approximately 60 days, if not predated by raccoons or foxes. Male terrapin top Female terrapin below In North Carolina, if a nest hatches late into the fall season, the hatchlings may spend their first winter in the nest, emerging in spring when temperatures warm. Little is known about the first few years of a terrapin s life as small juvenile terrapins are infrequently seen. Hatchlings are known to hide among the piles of washed up drying marsh grass stems known as wrack. They will also head to the water when the warm temperatures of the spring return. On land, hatchlings are vulnerable to predation by gulls, crows and herons. In the water, they are vulnerable to a variety of predatory fish and birds. Terrapin eggs are laid between April and July Humans can help protect terrapins by never taking them from the wild; reducing speed while driving motorized boats in tidal creeks; and checking crab pots frequently & installing excluder devices that have been developed to prevent terrapins from entering. Terrapins can be shades of black, gray, and white and feature a variety of speckled and spotted patterns 4
Getting Started To participate in the 2018 Terrapin Tally, register for a training by contacting the Reserve office (colhoune@uncw.edu). Teams of two will sign up to a specific route that will be paddled during a specific paddling session on a specific date. Each route will have a designated launch site, for which permission to launch has previously been obtained. Participants will receive a sign to place on their vehicle s dashboard during parking at any privately owned site. Routes and Launches Route Length Launch Site 1 2.2 Old Chimney 2 3.0 The Tides 3 3.3 Hickory Knoll 4 3.3 Tangle Oaks South 5 2.1 Tangle Oaks North 6 3.5 CMS 7 2.6 Trails End South 8 2.7 Trails End Center 9 3.2 Trails End North 10 4.0 Loosins Creek Loop Training session will be held on: April 14th 10:00 am-12:00 pm at the UNCW Center for Marine Science (5600 Marvin K Moss Lane). Maps for each route will be provided. It is important that participants sign up for a route with which they are familiar or that they paddle the route prior to the event to become familiar with it. This event will require the use of a smart phone for navigation and to collect the population data. The data collection dates for the Terrapin Tally will be April 28, April 29, May 5, and May 6. Saturday April 28 Sunday April 29 Session 1 7:30-9:30 am Session 1 8-10 am Saturday May 5 Sunday May 6 Session 1 10:30 am-12:30 pm Session 1 11:30 am-1:30 pm Session 2 12:30-2:30 pm Session 2 1:30-3:30 pm *PLEASE PLAN TO START YOUR SESSION ON TIME! 5
Terrapin Tally Safety and Preparedness Checklist Everything you need to be prepared for a safe and enjoyable day out on the water A vessel, paddle and PFD (to be worn throughout the event) are necessary gear for participating in the Tally, of course, but the following checklist will help you make sure you have all of the other supplies you will need to make the experience most enjoyable. Necessary items: Terrapin Tally guidelines Fully charged smart phone Maps (distributed at training session) Kayak or canoe & paddle Drybag or Ziploc for electronics Closed-toe shoes Water, water, and more water Parking notice (distributed at training session) Suggested items: Bungee straps/tie-downs for supplies Quick drying clothes Hat Sunglasses Waterproof sunscreen Bug spray Snacks Towel Having an On Shore Contact We suggest that you arrange to have a trustworthy contact person as an on-shore contact on the day of the event. Provide them with details about when you will launch, where you will be, who you will be with, and when you will return. Also provide them with contact information for you and the US Coast Guard Station at Wrightsville Beach (910-256-3469). You should call them when you return to shore or at the designated return time to report your status. If they do not hear from you by the designated return time, they should attempt to call you. If they cannot reach you within 15 minutes, they should contact the US Coast Guard and provide all of the relevant information for a search to be launched. No post paddling call-in to the Reserve office is required. SAFETY FIRST SAFETY LAST THIS EVENT IS BEING CONDUCTED BY THE COMMON ADVENTURE MODEL Be responsible for yourself and your fellow paddlers as you are able 6
Data Collection Protocols 1. Arrival. If your launch site is a public boat ramp, be sure to park in the spaces designated for cars, leaving the large, open spaces for vehicles with trailers. If you are parking at a private boat launch, park as instructed on your route map. Place the provided parking notice on your dash board. Try your best to avoid interfering with other s use of the boat ramp as you launch your team s boats. 2. Assign roles. Designate one person to watch for terrapins (the observer) and another record the data on their phone (the recorder). Roles may be alternated periodically, if desired. 3. Prepare to paddle: a. Make sure Avenza Maps app and Coastal Walkabout app are downloaded on your phone (see step-by-step instruction document for help). b. Navigate to http://sites.google.com/site/ masonboroislandvolunteering/resources in your phone browser and scroll down to the 2018 Terrapin Tally folder. c. Find your specific route and click download. You can copy the link into Avenza Maps (using the + sign in the first picture) or directly open the map into Avenza App (using the middle icon in the bottom of the second picture). d. When your map has been downloaded to Avenza Maps, open the map and your location will appear as a blue dot. Please use this tool and your printed maps to help you navigate. d. Open the Coastal Walkabout app in your phone and login (this is where terrapin sightings are recorded). *Make sure you click ok to allow the app to use your current location e. Use the Record a Sighting option to make a point. Click Other as the species and enter Start in the species box. 7
Data Collection Protocols (cont.) 4. Paddle through your assigned route slowly and quietly, maintaining a slow, steady pace. Terrapins are shy and may be more likely to hide from noisy paddlers and boats. 5. Scan for terrapins, focusing on the area directly in front of and to the side of your boat up to a field of 180. Look for terrapin heads poking out of the water as the picture to the right shows. Sometimes they can look like sticks bobbing in the water. Terrapins will poke their heads out for a short period to breathe and may or may not resurface. 6. Record. When a terrapin is spotted, the observer records this data using the Coastal Walkabout app. a) Click on Record a sighting to log a terrapin sighting. b) On the Super Group page, click Other. c) Under Species, type in Dt for Diamondback terrapin. d) Click Here next to latitude and longitude. This will identify your current location. e) Click the box next to Group Size and pop up list will allow you to indicate the number of individuals you spotted. f) Although not required, you may put pertinent comments about your sighting in the Notes box. g) Once this recording is complete, click the Save button on the top right hand corner of your screen. h) After saving your recording, a screen will appear that shows the location of your sighting. Press Continue to keep going. 8
Data Collection Protocols (cont.) 7. Continue. Navigate along the entire length of your designated route, returning to your launch point, recording all terrapins seen along the way. When you return to shore, make a point and enter the species as Finish to indicate that you completed your route. 8. Review and Upload. Click on Review and Upload to submit your data. a) Make sure that the Keep Uploaded Records option is chosen, and click Upload Records. b) You have now successfully contributed to the Terrapin Tally data collection. Thank you so much for all of your hard work! You may now press Done and exit the application. 9. Check in. Call your on shore contact to report your return. 10. Follow up. We will send out results within a few weeks of the final data collection. 11. Sign and submit your volunteer form that can also be found on the Masonboro Volunteer Google Site. 9
Important Extra Details SPECIAL PHONE SETTINGS To prevent your phone screen from going dark: Auto-Lock: Settings>General> Auto-lock>Never To ensure that the navigation tool and the data collection application know how to locate you: 1) Enable Location: Settings> Privacy> Location Services (on) 2) Click on location services and check that: Safari and Coastal Walkabout are on Always. Inclement Weather Plan Each paddling session will be considered independently relative to weather conditions. Any given session will be cancelled (with no backup date/time) due to: High Winds Heavy Rain Thunderstorms Prior to each paddling session, the Coastal Reserve staff will make a weather determination. If a session is cancelled, the Coastal Reserve staff will notify registered participants via email and post the cancellation to the Masonboro Island Facebook page no less than two hours prior to the paddling session start time. 10
Safety In addition to the on-shore contact previously mentioned, the following are other safety considerations related to the Terrapin Tally. Experience level This event is designed for experienced paddlers, if you have any doubts about your level of experience, talk to us or gain more experience and paddle for this event next season. Oysters Oyster bed/reef areas are found at some point along most of the routes. Also, some launch sites have oyster shell in the sediments at the launch. Be aware that contact with oysters can result in painful, difficult-to-heal cuts. Wearing shoes while you launch and while you paddle, in case you have to get out of your boat, is important to protect your feet. We have mapped the routes to avoid major oyster reef areas, but you may still find yourself paddling over some oyster areas stay aware and avoid getting hung up on oyster shells. Boat traffic The Intracoastal Waterway and other navigational channels can experience high levels of boat traffic during summer months and good weather. Routes have been mapped to stay close to the mainland or dredge spoil islands, wherever possible, and to cut straight across the ICWW and navigational channels, where necessary. Try not to linger in the navigational channel when crossing. Although power boats should give way to non-motorized boats, be aware of coming boat traffic, stay with your teammate, and minimize time in the center of the channel. DO NOT stop in the navigational channel to record data. If an observation is made crossing the waterway, proceed across the channel, entering data when outside the channel and noting in the comments field that the item was observed in the navigational channel. PFDs Personal flotation devices work. Wear one. Even experts can find themselves in unexpected situations a pfd can make a huge difference in the outcome of an unexpected swamping or tipping situation. Sunscreen and water You know your needs best, just remember that in field conditions, in the sun and on the water, you probably need twice as much water and sunscreen as might first seem appropriate. Apply sunscreen before and during the event, if you burn easily. Keep water accessible during paddling to ensure dehydration does not become an issue. Unexpected situations If you need to quit your route before completing it, or if a non-emergency situation occurs for which you need support, call the Coastal Reserve office or your on-shore contact for help in determining the needed assistance and course of action. Emergencies In an emergency situation, follow normal protocols for emergencies call 911 first, proceed as directed by the dispatcher. 11
Map of Routes After signing up for a route and paddling session, you will be given a detailed map of your route. NOTE: Launch sites for Routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 are private. Permission has been obtained to utilize these launches for this event. The generosity of these private property owners should be respected by this permission not being abused. Please do not use these launches any time other than indicated for this event. Please follow the guidance associated with the launch to which you are assigned. Please do not share launch site information with non-participants. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. 12
Contact Info Want more information? Have questions about the procedures? Feel free to give us a call! North Carolina Coastal Reserve & National Estuarine Research Reserve www.nccoastalreserve.net colhoune@uncw.edu (910) 962-2324 suttonh@uncw.edu (910) 962-2998 North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission www.ncwildlife.org sarah.finn09@ncwildlife.org (910) 742-7729 13