Habitat Selection Criteria of Wood Turtles
The wood turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, is a New Jersey State threatened species due to habitat degradation, fragmentation and loss. Wood turtle’s current status in New Jersey makes state-wide protection and conservation efforts crucial for preservation of wood turtle populations. This study examined wood turtle habitat selection criteria using paired logistic regression by comparing habitat features between areas with observed wood turtle activity (activity area) and areas with no wood turtle activity (reference area). Activity areas were selected based on the wood turtle tracking data collected by the Endangered and Nongame Species Program, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in 2007. Each activity area was paired with one reference site which had similar habitat features and were located within 30 meters of the activity area. Field survey was conducted in late summer 2010 to describe the habitat features of both activity area and reference sites including availabilities of food (berries, moss, mushroom and invertebrates) and environmental conditions (tree community richness, percent canopy cover, depth of leaf litter, percent organic content in leaf litter, percent organic content in organic soil, distance to water, and distance to nearest disturbance). Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) determined the level of significance for each model which contained differing combinations of significant variable. The results suggested wood turtles prefer habitats within close proximity to water (17.7 m in average) and with a high occurrence of mushrooms (5.1 m2) and invertebrates (8.8 m2). Other parameters were not found to significantly impact habitat selection by wood turtles.
