Demography of an Urban Population of Alligator Snapping Turtles ( Macrochelys temminckii) in Texas
SOUTHEASTERN NATURALIST(2023)
Abstract
Understanding population demographics of Macrochelys temminckii (Alligator Snapping Turtle) requires long-term studies. Most previous studies do not provide demographic population data. We conducted a mark-recapture study of M. temminckii inhabiting Buffalo Bayou in Harris County, TX, from October 2016 through August 2021. We captured 110 unique individuals during 465 trap nights and recorded 45 recaptures. We generated 8 biological metrics. Capture per unit effort varied from 0.267 to 0.547 turtles per trap-night, the population estimate was 173 turtles (95% CI: 138-250), the sex ratio was 1.00 M:1.28 F, and density and biomass estimates were 4.43 turtles/river km and 89.9 kg/ km, respectively. Given that anthropogenic risks to this urban population may increase, continued monitoring and research is warranted.
MoreTranslated text
Key words
alligator snapping turtles,texas,urban population
AI Read Science
Must-Reading Tree
Example
Generate MRT to find the research sequence of this paper
Chat Paper
Summary is being generated by the instructions you defined