Home Range and Habitat Selection of Florida Box Turtles (Terrapene carolina bauri) in Coastal Southwest Florida

Jordan Donini^1,*, Michela Coury², Brooke L. Talley³, Adrian Rodriguez¹, Jaclyn Drew¹, Tori Mann¹, and Cody Weber¹

¹Florida SouthWestern State College, 7505 Grand Lely Drive, Naples, FL 34103. ²Grand Valley State University, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI 49401. ³Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, 620 S. Meridian Street, Tallahassee, FL 32399. *Corresponding author.

Northeastern Naturalist, Volume 31, Special Issue 12 (2024): T12–T36

First published early online: 9 June 2024

Abstract
Terrapene carolina bauri (Florida Box Turtle) is a species of conservation interest that ranges throughout peninsular Florida. Florida Box Turtles utilize a number of habitat types throughout the state, but limited information has been collected in the southern extent of their range. We investigated the home range (HR) and habitat usage of a coastal population of Florida Box Turtles in southwestern Florida for 3 tracking periods (2020–2021, 2021–2022, and 2022–2023) via radiotelemetry. We found variation in HR between sexes, with males exhibiting larger home-range estimates. Estimated HR was 3.68–7.54 ha for males and 1.74–2.87 ha for females depending on estimate type. We detected no significant differences in HR between tracking periods or wet and dry seasons. However, we did observe a significant interaction between season and sex indicating male HR in both seasons was greater than that of females. Our evaluation of second-order habitat selection revealed that turtles preferred coastal grassland habitat during all 3 tracking periods. Second-order selection also indicated that turtles avoided both ephemeral habitats lacking water from drought, and areas of anthropogenic influence. Third-order selection indicated variation among tracking periods in the most selected habitat, with hammock and grassland being selected for in different periods. Similarly, turtles selected against flooded grasslands and dunes. These preferences for multiple habitats may support Florida Box Turtles as an opportunistic generalist, capable of using a mosaic of habitats and resources. These data provide critical information on the ecology of a species that is understudied in the southern Florida region and may aid in conservation decisions in the future.

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