Dietary Analysis of Northern Diamondback Terrapins (<i>Malaclemys terrapin terrapin</i>) in Two New Jersey Coastal Saltmarshes

Abstract

The diets of two distinct New Jersey populations of Northern Diamondback Terrapins ( Malaclemys terrapin terrapin ) were examined using fecal samples and stomach contents. The frequency of occurrence of shared prey species and prey groups were compared between populations, and between males, females and juveniles within each population. The results show that both populations preyed most frequently on snails followed by fish and bivalves. The overlap between the populations, and between subsets of the populations was found to be very high. These results indicate little, or no, resource partitioning between the assigned size classes of prey, nor between these two geographically close, but distinct, populations.