麻豆区

by Tony Moore 

Dani Staunton 鈥�13 hauls a net full of assorted turtles out of the murk of Huntsville Pond, and Andrew Veselka 鈥�15 carefully reaches in and grabs a snapping turtle by its tail. As he begins to extract its prehistoric claw from the net with his other hand, the snapper hisses and its legs swim in the air. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not too friendly,鈥� Staunton says, steering clear of the turtle鈥檚 thrashing head.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e just misunderstood,鈥� Veselka replies with a wry grin, freeing the claw at last.

Quickly identified by the students as a female, this turtle is just one of many to be pulled from the pond as a part of Assistant Professor of Biology Scott Boback鈥檚 summer research project. With grants from Dickinson Research & Development, the Center for Sustainability Education and the National Science Foundation, Boback was able to assemble his team with students eager to have an immersive research experience.

鈥淲ith this project, the students get to see the nuances of nature because they鈥檙e out here every day,鈥� Boback explains, sloshing out of the water to help with the snapper. 鈥淪ubtle changes in water depth or temperature and how this might affect the organisms living there鈥攐nly field biology can get you that perspective.鈥�

Missing feet and clipped-off tails

鈥淲e could call this project 鈥榩opulation ecology of painted and snapping turtles in central PA,鈥� 鈥� Boback says, indicating that he and the four students are exploring both the daily habits and the lifecycle of the turtles in Huntsville Pond, located 10 miles southwest of the Dickinson campus. The summer project is an intense, monthlong study in habitat, animal behavior and data collection and recording that brings the students together to work as a unit.

鈥淲e鈥檙e monitoring the population of these turtles in the pond鈥攃apturing, marking and then taking measurements,鈥� Boback continues. 鈥淭hen we release them with the hopes of recapturing them and discovering various things: did they grow, are they healthy, have they reproduced?鈥�

The study is designed to run for years, and this summer鈥檚 leg is only halfway complete, so much of the data the team is collecting haven鈥檛 been analyzed yet, but the health of the turtles is a factor that has some immediate transparency.

鈥淲e determine 鈥榗ondition鈥� or 鈥榟ealth鈥� in a variety of ways: accumulation of scars, missing toes, holes in their shells, missing feet, clipped-off tail, etc.,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd fast growers are healthy, so our data reveal this pretty clearly.鈥� 

Trap, mark, release

The water in which they all stand is part of an abandoned fish hatchery built in the 1930s by the state for recreation and to raise fingerlings to stock other ponds. To get to the site, they traverse a quarter-mile trail that appears to be an overgrown service road. Once they part the poison ivy that lines the trail, they climb down through the thick mud and into the water.

鈥淭he turtles come up to lie in the sun, so we use their behavior to our advantage,鈥� he explains, pointing to one of the traps they鈥檝e set, which looks like an overturned box floating in the water. 鈥淲hen they climb up to bask, they slip and fall [into a net].鈥�

Once the students drag the net ashore, it鈥檚 time to either check the turtles鈥� marks or mark them for the first time. 鈥淲e put so much effort into marking the turtles that almost every one we find out there is already marked,鈥� Boback says, turning to the snapping turtle at hand. 鈥淭his one though鈥攖his is the first time we鈥檝e caught her, so she has to be marked.鈥�

Five minutes later, Liz Brandt 鈥�13 lowers the angry female snapping turtle back into the water, marked, weighed and measured. The creature looks back suspiciously and then eases slowly away, not knowing her role in research that involves every turtle in her pond.

Published June 13, 2012