1. COMPOSITION OF A TURTLE ASSEMBLAGE IN A NORTHERN FLORIDA BLACKWATER STREAM.
- Author
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JOHNSTON, GERALD R., LAU, ANTHONY, and KORNILEV, YURII V.
- Subjects
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TURTLES , *RIVERS , *ALLIGATOR snapping turtle , *PSEUDEMYS - Abstract
We conducted a mark-recapture study of the turtle assemblage inhabiting a 1.1 km reach of the Santa Fe River within River Rise Preserve State Park in northern Florida during drought conditions in 2006 and 2007. In 154 man-hours of snorkeling, we hand-captured eight species, including two Florida listed Species of Special Concern -- the Suwannee Cooter (Pseudemys concinna) and Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macrochelys temminckii). Species diversity (Shannon H') and species evenness (Pielou J') were 1.23 and 0.59, respectively. The most abundant species was P. concinna, comprising 54.5% of all individuals captured and 77.9% of the total assemblage biomass. Biomass of the entire assemblage was estimated to be 199.8 kg/ha. This is the first detailed description of a turtle assemblage occurring in a blackwater stream habitat in the southeastern United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2011