Fieldwork Program & Blog
OTCC Fieldwork Program
Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre has been conducting field research since 2012. This is work done outside of the centre, as another arm to our conservation programming. Its goal is to aid in the bigger picture of conservation and to fill knowledge gaps. This will aid turtle conservation programs and projects all over the world. We have conducted road mortality surveys at known hotspots to aid in informing location of eco-passages, we have conducted turtle population surveys in areas where surveys have never been done, and we have tracked turtles via radio telemetry to assess survival, habitat preference, movement patterns and hibernation sites of the elusive juveniles.
Headstarting is defined as giving eggs and hatchlings a ‘head start’ in life by increasing their chance of survival through hatching and raising them for a period of time in captivity. Our main project in the field is a long-term study following a group of ‘headstarted’ juvenile Blanding’s turtles, alongside a group of comparably sized wild-hatched juvenile Blanding’s from the same site. Having this ‘control’ group of wild-hatched juveniles made our study quite unique, and allowed us to directly compare the survival, behaviour, and activity of the headstarts to their wild-hatched counterparts. They were tracked using ‘radiotelemetry’, which involves gluing a small radio transmitter to the turtles’ shells (which is not painful and does not disturb them) and using a receiver to follow the ‘beep’ it emits. This was done weekly all summer long to pinpoint where they travel. Once a month, they were weighed and their condition assessed – otherwise, they were left completely alone.
Our field site provides the perfect habitat to study turtle behaviour.
Turtles tracked by OTCC start out as 5 g hatchlings. We raise them until they are large enough to hold a 5 g transmitter.
Once they reach 100 g or 300 g, headstarted juvenile Blanding’s turtles are ready for release!
Juvenile turtles are very secretive, and there is a lot that is unknown about where they live and what they do during the season. This knowledge is essential to their conservation. Knowledge of best practices for headstarting was also in its infancy when we started this project, and many knowledge gaps needed to be filled. Since we incubate almost 10,000 eggs annually, we wanted to make sure that they had the maximum chance of survival, and of adding to the adult population.
The questions we wanted to answer were:
- What is the behaviour and habitat preference for the juveniles?
- Do headstarted turtles behave the same as wild-hatched turtles?
- Do headstarted turtles survive comparably to wild-hatched turtles?
- What is the best release strategy to maximize success for these headstarts once they are in the wild?
We have answered these questions during our many years in the field and have published the results in peer-reviewed journals. We have found that the headstarted turtles act just like the wild-hatched ones after released. We found that after an acclimation period, they travelled and grew just like the wild-hatched ones. We found that release site makes a huge difference, and they have a better chance of survival if released separately and as far apart as possible. Also, we found they have a better chance of survival if released away from land, but in areas of shallow, swampy water, with heavy vegetation. We found that releasing them straight from our facility (a ‘hard’ release) had the same results as if they were held outside for a period of time to get used to temperature changes, sounds, and weather patterns (a ‘softer’ release). Most importantly, we found their survival to be comparable to their wild-hatched counterparts. We concluded that headstarting indeed is a viable conservation strategy in itself. While saving and releasing adults of course has the maximum effect on a population, releasing hatchings and juveniles is also going to add to the adult population.
On the strength of this, we removed all transmitters in 2024. We will still visit the field site intermittently, mostly to follow these turtles through to full maturity (currently they are ‘sub-adults’). This is a much less intensive study, and involves catching them by hand, to check in on them every so often.
While we were out in the field, we became very familiar with all the other species of turtles at the pristine site and conducted populations surveys opportunistically. The results of this study are also being published, and the paper has been accepted for publication in Canadian Field Naturalist. It shows some interesting population demographics and discusses some relevant topics such as the sex ratio of these turtles in the wild.
Monte Hummel, President Emeritus of World Wildlife Fund, and some WWF helpers during our peak time!
Our field team uses radio receivers to search for study turtles.
Road Mortality Mitigation
We are now able to pivot our field work towards on-the-ground road mortality mitigation projects. We have partnered with a road ecology group (“EcoKare”) and a company that manufactures ecopassage fencing (“Animex”) and hope to be instrumental in the implementation of ecopassages and nesting sites for local turtle populations. Ecopassages for turtles provide a safe way for turtles to cross under roads and avoid being injured. They have been proven to work if constructed properly, and prevent road mortality where installed. We look forward to being able to see the fruits of this work, and to see reduced road injuries at these sites.
An ecopassage in the process of being constructed. Photo Credit Kari Gunson
A painted turtle utilizes an ecopassage to safely cross under a road. Photo credit Parks Canada.
Friends, Collaborations, and Other Species
Our field program has been so successful because of our friends and collaborators! We are so thankful to experts such as Dr. James Paterson, Dr. Christina Davy and Brennan Caverhill, who have offered us so much support and advice with our field endeavours.
While looking for juvenile Blanding’s turtles at our field site, we often encounter other species! We use these sightings to opportunistically conduct population surveys on all turtle species present in this area. We have found a previously unknown population of the endangered spotted turtle here as well as many painted turtles, snapping turtles, and musk turtles. We collect information on these species too and can monitor sex ratios, numbers, general condition and location.
Prominent herpetologist Dr. James Paterson spent a week helping us in the field. He happened upon this very indignant snapping turtle in his quest to find us wild juvenile Blanding’s!
Lynda Ruegg helped for many years as field technician tracking the turtles.
Past OTCC Board of Directors member, Dr. Dean Middleton, releases a Blanding’s at our field site after a radio transmitter was applied.
Turtle Survival Alliance India Project
Turtle Survival Alliance India project also conducts much fieldwork. Shown is Shailendra Singh, who is the lead on this project. OTCC has visited their sites in India to learn from their headstarting projects and exchange ideas. In 2017 the Turtle Survival Alliance conference in Charleston, USA, included a full day session discussing headstarting projects globally. OTCC was a participant and presenter at this conference.
While there are many similarities between the fieldwork we are doing at OTCC and the work TSA India is doing, Shailendra pointed out that it is much more difficult to get field technicians at their field sites in India. The presence of crocodiles and tigers at the field sites, that have been known to eat people, could have something to do with it!
Fieldwork Blog
Since 2012, Ontario Turtle Conservation Centre has conducted field research with Blanding’s turtles. Keep up-to-date with our field students and researchers as they share their experiences and observations.
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