Effects of Capture and Handling on Wood Turtle (Glyptemys insculpta) Movement

Anna C. Varty¹, Damien I. Mullin^1,*, Graham J. Forbes¹, and Christopher B. Edge²

¹Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3, Canada. ²Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Fredericton, NB E3C 2G6, Canada. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 31, Special Issue 12: G97–G109

First published early online: 3 August 2024

Abstract
Radio-telemetry has provided valuable information about habitat use, movement, and ecology of reptiles. However, capture and repeated observations can be stressful for animals and may affect behavior, which could influence conclusions drawn from observations. Previous work on handling-induced stress of Glyptemys insculpta (Wood Turtle) showed a physiological response to handling, though there is currently no data on how handling may impact the spatial behavior and movement of this species. We examined the spatial effects of handling 21 adult female Wood Turtles in New Brunswick, Canada, using GPS loggers. We found that turtles moved significantly more after handling events than before, suggesting that turtles may exhibit a flight response to handling. We suggest future studies on turtles limit unnecessary interaction with study individuals and avoid using relocations in habitat-use studies for up to 50 hr after capture when studying fine-scale animal movement and habitat use.

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