Undergraduate Students: Samantha Engster and Calli Morris
We investigated differences in habitat use between sexes of Chrysemys picta in three bodies of water through the use of radio telemetry.
Capturing, radio placement, and telemetry tracking of turtles occurred from 28 May to 10 August 2017 in southwestern Michigan.
A Mann-Whitney U test determined that female painted turtles had a significantly greater body mass than males at our locations.
A regression showed that there was no relationship between turtle body mass and home range size. We did not observe a significant
difference in home range size between the sexes. A chi-squared goodness of fit test determined that there was no correlation between
turtle sex and capture. We found no significant difference in time spent in or out of water between males and females. Overall, though
sex did affect body size, it did not affect captures or home range size; turtle size did not affect home range size.
Funding provided by:
Pierce Cedar Creek Institute
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