Nest Success of Alligator Snapping Turtles (Macrochelys temminckii) in Louisiana, with Comments on Sources of Mortality

Abstract

We report nest success for 16 Alligator Snapping Turtle nests oviposited at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge in 2008 and 2009. We split each clutch into 2 portions for field and laboratory incubation. The field portion was protected from mammalian depredation. For each nest, we report both pipping and hatching success. Our total observed levels of pipping and hatching success were 55.9% and 47.7%, respectively. We obtained a hatching success rate of 85.8% in the lab. Reasons for the difference in hatching success between the field and lab included both abiotic and biotic factors in the nest environment, such as flooding, temperature, and invertebrate predators.