Jeremy J. Hammen* and Jeffrey W. Tamplin

We used radio telemetry to study wood turtles at two field sites along the West Fork Cedar River in Butler County, Iowa, to determine if gender-specific differences occur in seasonal habitat usage, activity patterns, and thermoregulation. We recorded geographic location, microhabitat type, activity, visibility, turtle body and environmental temperature, light exposure of each individual and available environmental light intensity for 226 observations on 13 turtles (8 females, 5 males) from March through June, 2005. Habitat usage differed between males and females in May and shifted from strictly aquatic to aquatic and riparian to terrestrial habitats in both sexes from March to June. Mean distance from water increased monthly from 0.6 ± 2.9m (March) to 22.1 ± 37.3m (June), but was not related to gender. Mean monthly body temperature increased from March to June, and was significantly higher than mean environmental temperatures during April-May. In May, as egg development occurred, females maintained a significantly higher body temperature than males. In April and May, both males and females selected microhabitats that resulted in exposure to significantly higher levels of light intensity than environmental averages for terrestrial microhabitats.
John L. Behler Tribute Session Poster, Student

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