Daniel Hernandez1 and Roger Wood1,2

We conducted a preliminary radio telemetry study using eight adult female mangrove terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin rhizophorarum) on Barracouta Key in Key West National Wildlife Refuge, FL, from 9 March 2007 to 15 March 2007. Additionally, we collected spatial data using GPS from recaptured mangrove terrapins not fitted with transmitters. Data obtained from this study suggest that mangrove terrapins can move significant distances from day-to-day (and even within a single day) throughout the island interior. We relocated mangrove terrapins in both red mangroves (Rhizophora mangle) fringing the island and black mangrove (Avicennia germinans) forests in the interior of the island. It has generally been thought that mangrove terrapins do not move much while in island interiors and that black mangrove forests are their preferred habitat. Our findings do not support those assumptions. Our data indicate that mangrove terrapins may commute between the island’s edge and its interior on a regular basis. Our results suggest that mangrove terrapins use the forested interiors of islands as a refugium and move to the water around the island to feed.
Poster Session

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