Graduate Student Research

Repatriation and health assessment of eastern box turtles (Terrapene c. carolina) at Caumsett State Park, New York.
M.S. Thesis, Hofstra University. 2004.
Samuel M. Lee.

Abstract

A repatriation and health assessment project with eastern box turtles, Terrapene c. carolina, was implemented between 1996 to 2003, with a total of twenty-eight adult and eighteen juvenile box turtles (n = 46) released into Caumsett State Park. Dispersal behavior of repatriated turtles was observed, and movement data of both repatriated (n = 10) and wild resident turtles (n = 18) were analyzed. A significant difference was found between groups; repatriated turtles traveled greater straight-line distances than residents. Circular statistics were used to examine post-release orientation (clustering) effects of repatriated turtles. Repatriated turtles originating from two different localities did not share the same mean population direction, nor did they orient towards their origins. However, both groups’ orientation means differed significantly, indicating variation in post-release orientation behavior.

Both repatriated and resident turtles were examined for serologic evidence of exposure to Mycoplasma spp. Blood samples were taken and evaluated through enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Nasal aspirates were evaluated using polymerase-chain reaction (PCR). Forty-nine turtles were sampled at least once for serologic evidence of Mycoplasma exposure. 26.1% of the repatriates were seropositive and 65.2% were seronegative (n = 23); 15.3% of the residents were seropositive, and 61.5% were seronegative (n = 26). A strain of Mycoplasmaagassizi was isolated from a resident male sampled in 2002 using culture and PCR techniques. There were no significant differences between the sex of residents and repatriates in respect to Mycoplasma exposure results.