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Changes to spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) habitat selection in response to a salt marsh restoration

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Abstract

Development of coastal New England has led to the replacement of up to 37% of salt marshes with degraded freshwater wetlands, primarily through tidal restrictions. Removing these restrictions to restore salt marsh ecology would improve water quality, increase flood and storm protection, nutrient filtration, erosion control, and carbon sequestration. However, such restorations replace functional freshwater wetlands and could potentially impact freshwater species. Freshwater-dependent wildlife species such as the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), may be especially vulnerable to rapid changes in habitat resulting from tidal reintroduction due to their high site fidelity and limited ability to disperse quickly. Conservation of genetically and physically isolated spotted turtle populations as well as the restoration of salt marshes to mitigate climate change impacts are both high priorities on Nantucket Island. These two priorities conflicted in a project to restore tidal hydrology to an impounded freshwater marsh known to host a robust spotted turtle population. We evaluated changes to spotted turtle home range size and location and habitat use in response to salt marsh restoration over eight years. Home range size did not change but the location of home ranges shifted into bordering wetlands landward of the tidal salt water influence. Spotted turtles selected remaining freshwater marshes and shrub swamps while avoiding developed land and areas of establishing salt marsh within areas that had previously been high quality habitat. This study suggests prioritizing conservation of wetlands adjacent to planned salt marsh restoration to provide habitat for freshwater species to migrate.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Medouie Creek Homeowner Association for support of this project, particularly the Yuen Family, the O’Brien Family, and Bob Wright, for allowing access to their properties to track spotted turtles. Additionally, we wish to thank our colleague Neil Foley for reviewing this manuscript, donations from an anonymous SciFund crowdfunding event, as well as all the seasonal field assistants and volunteers for their many hard and buggy hours spent slogging through bogs and salt marshes for this project.

Funding

Funding for this research was provided by the Nantucket Conservation Foundation with additional minor donations through a SciFund Crowdfund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nantucket Conservation Foundation, PO Box 13, Nantucket, MA, 02554, USA

    Danielle I. O’Dell, Jennifer M. Karberg, Karen C. Beattie, Kelly A. Omand & Elizabeth C. Buck

Authors
  1. Danielle I. O’Dell
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  2. Jennifer M. Karberg
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  3. Karen C. Beattie
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  4. Kelly A. Omand
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  5. Elizabeth C. Buck
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by DO. Data analyses were performed by DO and JK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by DO, KB and JK. All authors commented on previous version of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Danielle I. O’Dell.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Animal research/ethics

Protocols for the use of wild animals in this research were approved and permitted by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

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The authors give consent for this manuscript to be published in Wetlands Ecology and Management.

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O’Dell, D.I., Karberg, J.M., Beattie, K.C. et al. Changes to spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata) habitat selection in response to a salt marsh restoration. Wetlands Ecol Manage 29, 301–313 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-021-09788-7

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