Variation in Body Size, Growth, and Population Structure of Actinemys marmorata from Lentic and Lotic Habitats in Southern Oregon

Abstract

Turtle body size and growth rates are affected by several environmental factors, including thermal regimes. Small lentic habitats in northern latitudes often are thermally stratified in summer and, overall, provide a warmer environment than lotic habitats, which usually lack stratification because of flowing current. Several studies indicate that the amount of food consumption and rate of growth of turtles are higher, and body size larger, in warmer environments than cooler habitats. However, few sites have been examined. To better test these patterns, we compared the growth, body size, and population structure of the Western Pond Turtle (Actinemys marmorata) from six small lentic and four lotic habitats in southern Oregon. We found that adult size and growth rates were the same for the four lotic habitats and variable but not consistently greater at lentic sites. There were a high proportion of large turtles at all lotic sites but a variable proportion of sizes among lentic sites. Age structures did not match size structures for most populations because we found many young turtles in these populations but few small-sized turtles. Thus, we caution against reliance on size alone as a measure of population structure or trends in turtle populations. Further, our study suggests that sampling at a relatively large number of sites (e.g., ≥3 of each habitat type) improves inference of results.