Meeting Abstract

P2-98   -   Chasing Ornate Box Turtles (Terrapene ornata) in southeastern Colorado: a look at home range and microhabitat preferences. Norton, E*; Sena, M; Moreno, J; Bickford, N; Ramos, C; Sandmeier, F; Colorado State University - Pueblo ellen.norton@pack.csupueblo.edu

Ornate box turtles (Terrapene ornata) are unique among the genus Terrapene in occupying sandy, arid environments and forming deep burrows to escape extreme temperatures in both summer and winter. They are an understudied species across most of their range, especially where they occur at high elevations in Colorado. This study focused on quantifying home ranges and habitat selection of 19 ornate box turtles at a high elevation site in sandsage-dominated short grass prairie in Pueblo, CO. Turtles were tracked remotely with Cellular Tracking Technologies (CTT) PowerTag radio transmitters and corresponding towers, as well as in the field with a hand-held receiver. We quantified home range size and overlap across seasons and found high levels of activity across the entire active season. We hypothesize that high activity may be tied to later emergence at high elevation, as well as the availability of shrub cover (sandsage) that is unique to these higher elevation sites. We used vegetation surveys and satellite images to use turtle locations observed via remote and in-person tracking to identify selection of microhabitats across seasons. Both sandsage and deep burrows in hillsides appear to be important seasonally. We suggest that thermal qualities of these microhabitats are crucial to survival at high elevations, in environments which commonly experience unpredictable weather events.