Abstract
The microhabitat preferences of chicken turtles (Deirochelys reticularia) have remained an area of speculation. To investigate this, we studied a population of chicken turtles located at Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve (NHWEP) on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This unique barrier island ecosystem contains > 20 independent, interdunal, and mostly permanent ponds in a relatively small area (< 500 ha), which provided a unique opportunity to determine the microhabitat preferences of chicken turtles. The ponds throughout NHWEP exhibit vast variation in abiotic factors that could influence chicken turtle presence. We used a backward selection Poisson regression modeling framework to investigate the composition of each pond in relation to environmental variables and D. reticularia presence. Our models included multiple factors that could potentially affect chicken turtle microhabitat preferences such as pond depth, mud depth, water clarity, canopy cover, water chemistry, and salinity. After examining these factors within our models, we discovered that pond depth, canopy cover, and salinity were the most important factors contributing to the presence of chicken turtles. Specifically, our analysis showed that chicken turtles prefer shallow ponds with minimal canopy cover and that exhibit little to no salinity. Thus, our findings provide an important baseline understanding of chicken turtle microhabitat use that could be critical to management within changing ecosystems.
